Horses are one of the oldest friends of humans. However, today majority of horse lovers cannot afford to keep them as a pet because of the issues like space constraints, finance and busy lifestyles. But still there are many who are lucky enough to enjoy the company of horses which are well-known for their strength, faithfulness, wisdom and dignity.

More than 49,000 lucky horse lovers have formed an online group on Facebook.com, sharing their everyday experiences, incidents and simply their love for horses. The Facebook group named “Let’s See How Many Horse- Riders There Are On Facebook!” is created by a high school student named Channel Wilson from England, this fastest growing group has active members from almost every part of the world like U.S, U.K, Alaska, New Zealand, Australia, Spain, Germany, Holland etc. This is one of the largest groups of active horse riders not only on facebook.com but over the whole World Wide Web. With the majority of high school and college students “let’s see how many horse riders there are on facebook” is a most favorite online hangout spot for riders and those with passion for these wonderful creatures.

They have wide discussions on almost every topic related to horses including training, riding experiences, queries related to horse’s behavior, health and even topics related to riding injuries which has made this group a valuable resource not only for horse lovers but also for horse riders, breeders, trainers, show jumpers and even amateur riders.  There are many good threads where you can enjoy reading posts and replies of members even if you don’t own a horse, one such thread is “what does your horse look like”, in this thread the members has described the physical appearance of their horses wonderfully. Another thread “What is the best breed of horse you decide” is regarding the kind of horses, Arabian, Stallion, Lusitano, Welsh section D, Connemara and so many other breeds and mix breeds horses, this provides additional knowledge to any one who wants to know about horses.

While looking into the discussion forum, we have learnt that this group is also helping people with problems related to their horse behavior. There are many such interesting threads to help riders with their issues and problems. One such thread was started by a member from Europe, complaining the way his horse was having some confidence issues. He received some very educated responses from members, giving their opinion and advice on how to train such horses. This thread went on for more than a month with varied responses from about 24 people. Lastly, the topic starter came back with a big thanks to those who had given their contribution in helping this rider and his horse.

Moreover, there are other plenty of activities like posting their horse’s pictures. More than 5000 photos of horses and 80 videos have been posted by members in group. Helping people in buying and selling their horses, getting riding accessories resources like websites or shops in their area etc. “Let’s see how many horse riders there are on facebook!” is one of the best place today for getting real experiences of show jumping and dressage, many members are professional show jumpers, their experience helping others to learn basic riding skills, jumping techniques and appearance.

“Let’s see how many horse riders there are on facebook” is inspiring, helping and motivating its members who are knowingly or unknowingly keeping alive a hundreds of years old tradition and culture of horse riding, which is now limited to some very remote and tribal areas of world or either on the professional race course and show jumping. By the medium of social networking and online groups these horse riders are crossing the boundaries of their nations, their cultures and finally meeting up and joining hands together for one reason, which is their extreme love for their horses.

After seeing this online group, it would not be wrong to say that horses are not only human being’s oldest friends but also one of the most beautiful friends.

OrkutHeroes.com writes about exceptionally best and successful online groups and communities, if you are a member of any such online group than contact us, We would love to feature your group/community on OrkutHeroes.com

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Application Review:
Luveria is an open social application designed mainly for orkut users, by the developers of Mycantos.com an Indian social networking site, Luveria can be said as a mini social networking inside a social networking keeping in mind the majority of Indian users on Orkut.com. Purpose of Luveria is a dating and meeting young Indians from different places. However, it’s not very popular application yet though it’s worth using because of its very less but easy features.

Around 60000 orkut users are using this application in their orkut profiles. It’s not very complicated application to use, as soon as you will select Luveria in your orkut profile, you will find it on your application section, just click it and you will land into this mini social networking inside orkut. The main and only features you will notice are Search Users, My Messages, My Profile, Add favorites and Invite friends.

You can “Search Users” according to their gender and age, you can send and receive personal messages from other users, “Add Favorite” is an option where you can add any user to your favorite list and a small message box will come asking the reason why you want to add the person in your favorite, the reason will not get disclosed to the person you are tagging, but you can inform the user about your activity, that’s optional. You can edit “My Profile” section with all your details including, age, location, and marital status, a small personal tag line which is to describe yourself in short or fill “About me” section for detail description. The last option is to “Invite friends” to join this application, there are two ways of inviting, either by pasting a link which will appear as soon as you click “invite friends” or just click next option which says “send message” in both way you can ask your friends to join “Luveria”.

All over, its simple and fine application to use. But, it need more features to use. Application developers these days focusing on how they can make user addicted to their application. However, I crossed my teenage life but I am sure that love and dating is bit off-topic these days, that’s my personal opinion. However, luveria is adding.

Mycantos.com is a social networking site, also provides sms service for its users. Based and operated from India, Mycantos.com also develops open social applications for orkut users.

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If you are a student of engineering in any subjects/branch like electronics, automobile, chemical, civil, mechanical engineering or an engineer by profession and wish to meet other engineers than have a look on this really good Engineering communities on orkut.com it can help you in your subject of interest and also give you an opportunity to make your professional network wide by making new friends online.

Electronics and Communications http://www.orkut.com/Main#Community?cmm=214030

It’s one of the most active engineering community exist inside orkut , however its small in terms of number of threads posted but it has great amount of useful content related to electronics and communications. Members are friendly and ready to help new comers in any possible way. Most threads in the forum are tagged “official” by the owner or moderator so there is no time waste in searching for genuine thread, you can see all posted threads in one single page. Topics like “Project help”, “career opportunities”, “GATE help” and “seminar help” are most replied threads. There are also two different threads for electronics and communications, check “electronic forum” and “analog and digital communication threads.”

All over it’s a small big bundle of knowledge on Electronics and Communications.

Automobile Engineering http://www.orkut.com/Main#Community?cmm=8438416

A Chassis to share innovations, advancements and gain knowledge in the field of automobiles. With this small description this orkut community on Automobile engineering has 11000 members with average activities on forum. Active since feb 2006 there is a large content posted and most of them are really helpful. But don’t expect comments to threads instantly. While surfing we found most active threads like “how to project our project”, “SAE standards”, “best college for BE Automobile engineering etc.”

Chemical Engineering http://www.orkut.com/Main#Community?cmm=28402

More than 19000 members related to the field of chemical engineering, this orkut community is pretty active and generate a large amount of helpful resources related to the subject Chemical Engineering. Though sometimes with very less or no activities, still this online group is one of the dedicated communities in comparison to other same name communities on orkut. Community is created since March 2004 is also one of the oldest groups existing on orkut. There are many helpful threads in chemical engineering community like “Chemical Processing” “post your institution name here” and “a lot of chemical engineering book here”. Guys are really helpful in guiding before and after this course, like job openings, project help etc. If you are looking for friends with someone who had pursued chemical engineering, than do not miss this group.

Electrical Engineering http://www.orkut.com/Main#Community?cmm=7185269

A small community of 3000 members is a good online group for people interested in electrical engineering which is another important branch of engineering science. However, there is no real discussion or debate on the subject but most of the threads are posted by members who need help regarding their queries. This community is better than another same name community which has over 40k members but it’s a very inactive forum. One can find many job opening threads, queries, solutions, project help etc on this orkut community for Electrical Engineers.

Civil Engineering http://www.orkut.com/Main#Community?cmm=15454

Meet more than 30000 civil engineers and engineering students on this community, best for sharing ideas, post your work related queries and make a big network of friends with same profession and interest. Civil Engineering community on orkut is average community, it get active sometimes but its highly expected to get good replies if you start a thread there, some members are really helpful and gives very professional advices.

Mechanical Engineers http://www.orkut.com/Main#Community?cmm=3166

Another interesting community, a quite large group of more than 40,000 members with a good number of everyday activities, it shows that they enjoy being on this community. Whatever they do or talk on forum they don’t forget their focus, i.e. Mechanical Engineering and that’s why even when they play forum games they named it “Mechanical Gaming Zone”. There are many other good threads like “interview questions” , “Reference for Mechanical Engineers” and “COMPLETE Advanced Tutorials of CATIA with projects” with more than 100 replies.  Worth joining.

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On an invitation to use the new Orkut and after reviewing it for last 7 days, I have noticed many advantages and disadvantages of this new User Interface (UI). The new UI has focused more on the home and profile pages of the users, even though one of the unique features of Orkut has been its more than 100 million communities, which I feel, have been largely ignored in this newer version. Since Orkutheroes.com focuses and highlights the activities and achievements of various online groups and communities, I have decided to write this article to focus on the threat to these active communities through the new UI of Orkut.
Orkut’s new look has many exciting features for user profile section which have been reviewed in my last article here, like posting notifications on profile where friends can comment turning it to a small thread type discussion, managing friends and communities from profile page, approving friend’s requests became easy and sharing photo album etc.
The new user profile is designed in such a fashion that it will keep user busier in his/her profile than any other place on Orkut. From any other place I mean Orkut communities, to say it more specifically I would like to give an example. I am a very active member of Indian Parenting community where I used to take part in various discussions related to parenting with fellow members mostly parents; among those active members of parenting community I have some members in my friend list too. To test out my idea and usability of the new UI, I wrote a notification on my profile page “ Which is the best packed food for one year old child?” and in few minutes I received 4-5 comments from those people who are active member of Indian Parenting community, I didn’t visit the community but I wrote a query on my own profile notification, it solved my purpose with less effort so what’s the use of community when I can create as many threads I want in my profile and discuss with friends of same interest ? Then how often will I visit all those favorite communities of mine?
New Orkut notification on user’s profile is actually a style of conveying short messages to your friends, messages can be anything and replies will come from concerned and similar minded persons, all those you have added in your friend’s list. People who love discussions in forums sometimes don’t like being moderated by owners or moderators of the community, but notifications also solve this hindrance of being ruled because here, you are the ruler of your own thread.
On the other hand Orkut community fans are disappointed by new Orkut UI which has very few new features for communities and community owners. If you go to any Orkut community or create your own, you won’t notice any change at once except few moderation options like accepting new requests from profile page and only owners and moderators can start threads in the community etc.

Some Orkut Communities are best among internet’s vast arena of many social networking and message board websites, if Orkut’s developers think that by introducing new UI they can hold the loosening grip of Orkut then they are not completely wrong but they can definitely loose the real charm of Orkut which is in its beautiful communities.
Community Forums of Orkut really need a better change and modifications, especially in the forum area which looks simple and dull. I asked many community owners and moderators to get their suggestions and features they wish to see regarding Orkut communities which I am listing here :
1. Community Description with unlimited alphabets.
2. Rating best threads or most active threads.
3. Option of ‘quote’/’reply’ to in discussion threads.
4. Better and easy way of formatting texts while posting topics.
5. Owner/Moderator can close threads for posting.
6. Owner/Moderator can stick important threads on top.
These are few suggestions to keep the activities of Orkut communities energetic and live. What social networking means to you is a different question, but meeting likeminded people and doing something great for others is only because of such groups and communities that make a civilized society both online and offline.
I have tried to highlight the issues which could affect the quality time that users spend on Orkut networking with likeminded people, which is possible only through forums and communities and not just through profile pages. It is communities only which provide the users an opportunity to read other people’s views on topics of common interest and forming lasting professional and personal relationships.

If you want your article or story to appear on OrkutHeroes.com, please contact us with all the details.

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OrkutPlus.com posted “Rumor- Is Orkut Working on New Interface” few days before….No Its not a rumor! WooHoo!! It true, Orkut’s official blog announced it and I am among the few lucky people on orkut who got official invitation to check out the new orkut interface which is improved, fast, classy and added with more interesting features than before. I was missing this from long and finally they (orkut developers) did it!

Let’s start a review of this new and fresh look of orkut.com

First thing to notice is that recent visitor’s thumbnail photos instead of their names, the other best thing is latest notification or status like facebook which you can post on your profile homepage and expect comments from your friends. The other feature is changing the color of your profile with 5 different color options.

Going down you will notice orkut friend suggests, hey where are your three profiles? Professional, Personal and general? General profile is on home page but if you are searching for the other two than just see the corner of the profile bar and click more, there you will get your additional profile information, testimonials, fans etc . Then comes Birthday and at last updates of your friends and your notifications.

Now on the right side of your profile where you can see your friends, all friends in one just by scrolling that block, same with the communities.

In Addition to all this, if you are a community owner/moderator and you have some 10-20 members waiting to approve than you now don’t need to approve or reject them one by one, you will get notice in your homepage and just approve all members or reject them easily and fast.

How Application page looks like

Application page on new orkut

In communities, I didn’t notice any big change, forums and threads look same.

Again a quick review of my new orkut profile:

• Manage All friends from homepage
• Manage all communities from homepage
• Except or reject community membership request from Homepage
• Feeds from friends on Homepage
• Friend’s suggestions
• Instant Notifications

The change was always needed and highly expected by orkut users, I welcome this great change and I hope that when this new version will be announced publicly every orkut user will be happy. After all, this is the biggest upgraded version of orkut since its launch in 2004.

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It’s fun to be on social networking websites, with all those stimulating and interesting features, meeting so many people and thousands of applications to play with; social networking now became one important part of life. Although, for many it’s just a time pass but for many others it’s best utilization of their time. I love the art of photography and since the introduction of digital cameras it made so handy to click and share your favorite shots to your friends, so while searching a good community related to photography I came across an online group on orkut.com which is in true meaning utilizing social networking to its highest level by communicating and sharing useful resources. This community is not simply dedicated to photographers and photography but it is a complete index of hardcore professional digital photography discussion forum full of photography enthusiast from every part of the world. Welcome to the Digital Photography Forum on orkut.com.

Digital Photography Forum on Orkut.com is a paradise for every photography enthusiast either an amateur or a professional photographer. It’s a lively place loaded with knowledge, information, art and fun. Interestingly, Digital Photography Forum (DPF) is first community of its kind I have seen which has no additional moderators accept an owner but DPF looks better moderated than any other online community on orkut with several moderators, all credit goes to the dedicated active members of DPF who are no less than a joyful online family. This 100% spam free community is full of activities; just browse their forum and you will notice that there are forum threads for every subject discussing both technical and compositional aspects of digital photography. Estimated more than 8000 forum topics and more than 50000 photos have been shared till now on DPF which is quite amazing.  Founded in January 2004 by Mary Ivers, a piano teacher and a photographer from Unites States, DPF is also one of the oldest orkut communities, though Mary is not active as a member but she regularly moderates the community.

Jinan Shah

“It’s always tough to find such a transparent communication towards learning process, which has been possible because of Orkut and so in Digital Photography Forum community” Said Jinan Shah a telecommunication engineer based in Texas (USA) and one of the most active members of DPF. Jinan is an amateur photographer who got introduced with DPF by an unknown orkut user who used to ask him questions concerning photography and to answer those questions Jinan had joined DPF and still thankful to that unknown stranger. Jinan is a popular member of DPF who also took initiative to re-start an old concept of Photographer of The Week (POW) thread, this thread is a very useful source of motivation and inspiration to all members. Jinan says that after joining DPF he understood that “Digital Photography is an ocean and I don’t know even a drop of it” such learning spirit and passion for photography gave him an opportunity to meet some very talented and experienced photographers as his mentor and friends.  One such prominent name is Rammohan Pai a 44yr old working in a Multinational Company based in Milwaukee U.S.A, Ram is known as one of the most respected and senior member of DPF who is always keen to help others with his knowledge and experience in his most favorite passion Photography. However, Ram was often active in other community forums related to photography outside orkut but when he came to know about DPF he was thrilled. He said “DPF has openness of the membership and a strong sense of humor, Differences of opinion are handled in a mature way and there is space for everyone’s views and opinions on DPF. Any strong difference is often closed with a lot of humor so that no bad taste is left at the end.”

Photo by R Prasana

Photo by R Prasana

Like Jinan Shah and Ram Mohan Pai there are hundreds of talented and passionate members discussing on landscape, street, wildlife, portrait and macro photography in this community, though every active member of this community plays an important role but if to name few than the list goes like Ankur, Jaspreet, Chandra, Vrushali, Lalit, Pentaxian, Ashish, Sheshu, Rax, Rajshree, Chirag, Arpit, Sumit, Nilos, Serendipity, Pranshu, Debasis, Swapnil, Pramod, R.Prasana, Srini, Manu, Prasad, Karthick, Varun, Kaustubh, Pankaj and Chubby. Some most active threads including post the picture and rate the above, Favorite photograph of the person above and many more are always seen on top 10 active topics but threads related to camera reviews and comparisons, software processing, compositional rule and theory of exposures are some useful subjects one can also find on DPF.

R Prasana

R Prasana Venkatesh from India is a self taught professional photographer specialized in Advertizing photography is among the team of active professional photographers of DPF and also chosen as Photographer of the Week by Jinan, well known as Prasana, he simply loves photography and  shares his every bit of experiences as a pro photographer in this beautiful orkut community DPF. More than an hour on DPF posting replies and reading threads every day Prasana is a big contributor on DPF, he also started a thread called “Business of Photography” in which he is explaining about professional photography and the things to be done to survive in this competitive field .From Initial setup to Money management. The thread is worth reading.

Digital Photography Forum is blessed with talented, friendly and supportive group of people. Such example of successful online community in any social network is rare. If you know any such online group or communities than let us know by contacting us on zazo@orkutheroes.com, we would be happy to feature your favorite group on Orkut Heroes Blog.

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I still remember those early days of orkutheroes.com when some people were skeptic about its future, may be because it was something which was never done before, but I did it. I did it because I felt the need of doing it. OrkutHeroes now became pulse of orkut.com, that’s unbelievably true.

If you believe that internet is the biggest revolution in the era of Information and Technology than you would also believe this fact that social networking is a revolution of this internet era. OrkutHeroes.com is a smallest attempt of bringing out those real people and groups who are actually responsible for this revolution.

After nearly 2 years of continuously featuring best online communities and some really great people we have discovered online, finally orkut.com accepted orkutheroes.com as his friend, after seeing a review of orkutheroes blog on orkut’s official blog I was not at all shocked but I never expected it. I am overjoyed and thankful to orkut’s staff for this recognition.

In Addition to this, I would also like to clear our regular readers that OrkutHeroes.com is not promoting any particular website, intentionally. We are promoting safe and useful social networking. This recognition is not our destination but it’s just a beautiful part of orkutheroes journey. There are still more things to come up in near future

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“I am not an Athenian or Greek but a citizen of the world – Socrates”. If you agree with this famous quote or even if you disagree with it, still It’s a right of every common citizen of this world to be aware and concerned about what’s going on and around the globe keeping behind all the differences of nationality, language, culture and caste and to contribute even in any small possible way to make more mutual understanding and friendly atmosphere to live peacefully while respecting each other’s views and opinions. With such small but effective contribution of more than 16000 people who are interested in debating on vast numbers of subjects including international politics, sociology, terrorism, human rights and many more, here I am presenting a wonderful online community on orkut.com named International Relations.

To define International Relations, no definition can suit best as this “International Relations is a branch of political science which deals with relationship among states vis a vis their foreign policies. IR draws upon diverse fields such as philosophy, sociology, economy, law and other social sciences with respect to interactions and relations of states and non state actors. Discussions pertaining to IR often deal with diplomacy, strategic studies, and conflict resolutions.”

Orkut’s IR (International Relations) community is one of the most active and well organized communities. The journey of IR community went successfully through the leadership of more than 2 different owners from last 5 years.  Vidar Stefansson is the present owner of IR community since last one month. In his early 20s Vidar is half Icelandic and half Norwegian, presently residing in Norway and studying medicine at the University of Bergen (in Norway). He is quiet passionate about international politics and that’s the reason he is on orkut’s IR community, however he never considers himself as an active member in terms of posting threads in the forum but a regular reader of ongoing debates, although these days Vidar is much active in the community than before.

International Relations community is a best place to witness the reaction of the world’s biggest news and events. Any breaking news gets its separate room to discuss it in this forum. Healthy debates sometimes even turned violent but it doesn’t cross its limit, that’s because of the team of moderators and also because of the maturity and intelligence the members are carrying with themselves.  From the nature of the subject IR seems to be a very serious community and it has to be but there are also some great numbers of lighter threads where members can have some jolly times with their fellow group members like IR Music Recommendation thread where they post their favorite music videos and links etc, there are few more off topic threads like IR Quotes. In all, you can find unlimited number of discussions and debates in this forum on every possible subject related to International Relations. Although orkut.com has a majority of Indian and Brazilian members but IR community on orkut has members from all countries and continents. “. We have Christians, Muslims, atheists and Hindus. Most of our active members are young (in their 20s), but we have older participants too. Overall it’s a varied mix of people with all kinds of opinions.” Vidar said, when asked about the demography of the community in an email conversation.

While reviewing IR community, I came across a very interesting thread which helped me in understanding the thoughts of these dedicated IR Community members who gives at least an hour to this community by posting, replying or reading different threads every day.  “And the point” is the thread which has many personal opinions posted regarding why and what IR community is giving or making differences in anybody’s life.  Dale Sundstrom a graphic designer from Chicago has replied “I’ve learned a lot about other people’s perspectives and been able to share my own, usually with people I would otherwise never get a chance to interact with. It’s helped me learn about issues I wasn’t aware of or didn’t understand clearly, and develop my own opinions on them.” Another active member has said “Reading the forum every now and then helps me develop my opinion on logical non biased lines. Helped me respect people for their opinions and cherish the gift of 21st century ‘freedom of expression’.”

The forum is well managed by 5 dedicated moderators from different part of the world, Vidar is proud of his team, he said: “Along with my team of moderators, our role is to settle disputes and keep the community from succumbing to flame wars, trolling and spam. We also handle admissions, trying to screen out probable trolls. The community has been running quite smoothly for a good while now, so it hasn’t been much work so far, thankfully. In the past, the owner and moderators have had to step in to keep the community from boiling over from heated debate, especially about Indian-Pakistani disputes.
Overall, things have calmed in the past year or so, as members have realized that everybody gains from having a community where sensitive topics can be discussed without personal insults and trolling.”

As Facebook is more popular social networking site worldwide, I also asked Vidar that does he think that IR Community could be more successful on Facebook than Orkut? He said that Orkut has better forum interface than Facebook so, IR community on Facebook could not get as successful as Orkut’s. However, there are some technical flaws on orkut which Vidar wants to get reached till orkut’s technical team by the medium of orkutheroes.com. That’s about moderating the community forum:

He said, “The “pending members” screen is totally inadequate for handling large volumes of membership requests. It’s very time-consuming and boring to approve or deny membership to one person at a time, when you have dozens or even hundreds of requests pending. The “pending members” screen only allows one to view ten applicants at a time, and one can’t scroll through them to find specific applicants. I would be very grateful if the interface could be improved to allow me to approve or deny multiple profiles at once, and to allow me to view more than ten applicants at a time. Furthermore, I would like to be able to scroll through all pending requests, not just the ones randomly assigned to the “pending members” screen. If you know anyone who is involved in the Orkut technical staff, I would be grateful if you could pass on my complaint.”

No doubt that orkut.com and similar social networks are not only became the medium of connecting with friends but it’s also becoming an international stage for people to meet and discuss on some very serious and important global issues, IR community is one best example. Over all, it’s a great community for debates and to meet some very interesting people.

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Akash Patel is the first personality I discovered not from orkut but from facebook. This is also an extension of orkutheroes.com which is no longer limited to orkut. Though, Akash is also a very active orkut user with more than 900 friends and 100 fans. I found him one of the youngest multi talented personality and a very friendly, down to earth teenage guy. Limca Book of Records may reward Akash as the youngest motivational speakers of the world. The interview with this talented Iowa university (USA) student was one of my best experience and it’s worth reading for everyone.

Please give your short biography, your birth place, family and school life.

“Seva Parmo Dharma” -The Bhagwat Gita (Service is the highest religion)

The above shloka (verse) from one of the greatest epics “Bhagwat Gita” sums up my philosophy in life. Though born and brought up in a family of business lineage, I have aspired and strove to make a positive difference in the lives of people and contribute something of permanent nature.  I was born and brought up in the Wine Capital of India: ‘Nashik’ which is no longer a town – it is a metro in the making! My childhood has been quite simple and I have an identical twin brother Anand who is equally talented and gifted as I am! We brothers were extremely outgoing and ‘go-getters’ right from the beginning.  My first leadership experience was as the President (Head Boy) of Nirmala Convent High School, my alma mater, an abode of eternal inspiration, motivation and knowledge. I am currently pursuing my Bachelors in Engineering & Journalism at Iowa State University, Ames, Iowa (USA) and also working as the International Student Ambassador of this esteemed institution. I started teaching ‘Human Values’, ‘Personality Development’ and ‘Motivation’ at a tender age of 16 and this has helped me apply for the prestigious Limca Book of World Records for the 2011 edition as the youngest motivational speaker of the world! I also worked as a free lance writer for Nashik Times and a YO! (Young Opinion) journalist for The Times of India’s YO! Bureau. I am currently on the Publication Board of the well-know college newspaper Iowa State Daily and also on the University Committee of Lectures, English Club and the Committee of World Affairs. I and my twin brother are also the founders of ‘The Indian Culture – Sanskriti’ Club at Iowa State University.

This whole hearted effort of conducting workshops on ‘Value Education’ and ‘Personality Development’ and ‘Motivation’ is based on Helen Keller’s ideology:

“I am only one, but still I am one. I cannot do everything, but still I can do something; and because I cannot do everything I will not refuse to do the something that I can do.”

As a child, what was your dream and aim in life?

My aspirations were totally different in childhood than what I desire to be in the present-day. I always dreamt of being a pilot when I was a kid but DESTINY changed the course of my life. I never knew that I would be a social activist, writer and a motivational speaker in the long run. It was something incredible! My goals are now to be an internationally acclaimed motivational speaker, writer and social activist; in this pursuit, my long term goal is to work selflessly to win the Nobel Peace Prize (I know it is a farfetched dream but I shall work assiduously to achieve it!).

At such a young age you have experienced so many facets of life, you worked so hard. What is your source of energy and confidence?

It’s all the magic of PASSION, an unflagging zeal and an indomitable will power to do things with a difference! I think that life is real and earnest and that the GRAVE is not the ultimate goal of life. We have to do something epoch making, get up and set our shoulders to the wheel, otherwise what is the difference between us and the trees and stone. They, too, come into existence, decay and die! I am very optimistic and have a store house of abundant energy that helps me get up everyday and do something for a noble cause! All you need is a tireless will power and determination to work!

My mother and two of my High school teachers play a key role in my success. Veteran teacher and Nashikite Vinodini Seetharaman was the great person who discovered the hidden talent in me that was waiting to be exploited. She allowed me to teach ‘English Composition’ and ‘Communication Skills’ to her students which eventually helped me leave a mark as a free lance writer and a YO! Journalist in The Times of India and Nashik Times. This fun filled experience of teaching at ‘Seetharam Classes’ all the more helped me develop my oratory skills to a great extent! High School Teacher Sheila Doke is like my second mother, she was the person whom I approached for all my spiritual needs.

Everybody says “Failure is a part of life”, but how do you take failures in your life? Would you like to share any real life experience with us?

Failures are the stepping stones to success! To be very honest and candid, I failed in all elocution competitions in High School but ‘at least’ made an attempt. I kept trying but failed in most of the Inter School Elocution competitions. I remember just getting a Consolation Prize once! Otherwise, I just couldn’t make it in most of the competitions. These experiences helped me develop my speech and today I proudly affirm that I can speak confidently even in front of a crowd of thousands of people. I owe a lot of my gratitude to FAILURE! In the past 2 years I have:

• Conducted more than 250 workshops on ‘Moral Values’, ‘Personality  Development’, ‘Motivation’ in and around Nashik district (Maharashtra, India) for students, teachers, parents, politicians, lawyers, doctors, industrialists, police officers, juvenile delinquents, hard core criminals, etc.
• Motivated more than 1, 00, 000 people of India. Bagged the credit of being the youngest motivational speaker of Nashik.
• Conducted a seminar for politicians on March 30, 2009 in the august presence of Senator Sameer Bhujbal and a myriad of other dignitaries. This workshop was telecast on one of India’s popular TV channels Star Maza.
• Delivered 5 speeches, Audio Visual presentations at the Central Jail of India, Jail Road, Nashik on September 25, 2008.
• Conducted a ‘Police Training workshop’ for the police officers of Nashik at the Police Commissionarate (Sinhasth Auditorium), Nashik on July 27, 2009.

Who is your idol? Why?

‘My life is my message’, ‘I have nothing new to teach the world, truth and non violence are as old as the hills’ – these are the lofty thoughts of the Mahatma  Mohandas Karamchand Gandhi who has been my role model ever since childhood followed by two more noted personalities and visionaries Barack Obama and APJ Abdul Kalam. All their lives teach me HUMILITY.  They teach me to accept good as well as bad with gratitude! These people are so down-to-earth even after their extra-ordinary and exemplary achievements.  Their life reminds me of the inspirational lines by H W Longfellow from the famous poem ‘The Psalm of Life’:

Lives of great men all remind us

We can make our lives sublime,

And, departing, leave behind us

Footprints on the sands of time

Being on stage and speaking for hours on one subject is challenging. Isn’t? How was your first experience as a speaker?

Speaking for hours at length on the same subject at different places is indeed a challenging job. My friends used to often ask: Don’t you get tired conducting the same workshops at so many places? Aren’t you bored? I used to always say: It’s so much of fun and exploration, meeting so many different people like students, teachers, parents, politicians, industrialists, nurses, doctors, police officers, juvenile delinquents, hard core criminals etc. This job gives me satisfaction and immense happiness. My experience at the Jail is different from a school, hospital, industry, etc. So every workshop is unique and opens up a plethora of new options and opportunities. Above all, I like doing this noble job as I LOVE to see a SMILE on the face of a person who is distressed, crestfallen or who smiles just for the sake of smiling and goodwill! I always mention in my workshop: Anger is a cup of poison that you are drinking and thinking that the other person should die or something bad should happen to that person. So, always be happy always wear a smile not because life is full of reasons to smile but your smile itself is a reason for many others to smile. Smile a lot, it costs nothing!

I was very zealous about studying Psychology, Philosophy, Spirituality et al and people slowly started knowing me and acknowledging my effort as an Assistant teacher at ‘Seetharam Classes’. It was my first opportunity when I was going to present something to students and wanted to see their response and gain some valuable feedback. It was Kilbil St Joseph High School where I planned to present my first workshop. The Principal Sister Grace was very stringent and first and foremost asked me to present the entire workshop in front of her. I did it enthusiastically. She was so enamored that she quickly asked her Supervisor to allow me to speak to the Grade 9 students. This triggered off my vast endless journey in the realm of Motivation and Moral Values. I learnt and developed my speech everyday with new locations and new spectators. Slowly and gradually people recognized my efforts and then I was roped in by the Collector of the District, S Chockalingam, who granted me the permission to conduct this seminar in all schools of Nashik District!

Akash, what are those basic points which every human being despite of his caste, color religion, wealth and country should do to make his life happy?  I asked this question to you because I personally feel that a lack of positive attitude towards life and depression is one most common illness present in this world.

‘Satisfaction-content’ is the key to happiness.  One must have abundant faith in oneself and be self-motivated to do anything that he aspires to achieve. In this process, if he fails to attain and accomplish certain goals, he must possess perseverance and patience, he must remember the human being who lives in dire straits, in extreme poverty or the person who is visually challenged, physically handicapped and is still willing to do something different, that shall be a source of motivation.

I have always heard people saying: Mera Naasib hi Kharab hai (I am unlucky right from birth/ Luck doesn’t favour me!), for such lethargic, sluggish, lazy people, I have only 1 thing to say:

Never believe what the lines of your hand predict about your future because people who don’t have hands also have a future! Believe in yourself!

One more crucial aspect is to learn the art of forgiveness and letting bygones be bygones. We often remember all the negative things (fights/grudges/verbal abuse) that we have had with another person. We must forgive and forget. I know how difficult it is to forgive; I acquired it only after a lot of meditation and contemplation. Rabindranath Tagore rightly says Forgiveness is the quality of the strongest.

We must always bear in mind: To err is human, but to forgive is divine. So, forgive others and acquire a divine quality. That is the essence of life.

We often say that Life is not a bed of roses, but how many of us accept life as it comes? Do we stop to think about all that has been endowed upon us? Time for introspection!

Your Journey has started from a small town. Especially in India, we have seen this common problem that the young people who hail from a small town comparative to metro cities find themselves less motivated to face this world ( Both educationally and professionally) , what is your opinion?

My hometown Nashik is in no way a small town but compared to metropolitan cities like Mumbai, Chennai, Banglore, it is underdeveloped! When I was in High School, we didn’t have many International schools or the CBSE/IB/ICSE curriculum, nevertheless, Nashik is now an educational hub and also a metro in the making! Progress doesn’t depend upon the size, population or demography of the city! It all depends upon your zeal and will power. You need a tireless and an undying will to succeed both academically and professionally. I was groomed in a background where I hardly faced any adversity or difficult situation. I was ‘fortunately’ bestowed with everything that a student studying in a cosmopolitan city got; I wasn’t deprived of any opportunities.  I do see eye to eye with the fact that guys from a small town aren’t exposed to many facets of life that their fellow friends from metro cities are; but that is, in no way a crucial benchmark of any human being’s success! Gandhiji, Dr Ambedkar, Business tycoon Dhirubhai Ambani and Lakshmi Mittal were all born and brought up in small towns or villages.

What are your favorite free time activities?

I hardly get spare time during the day while living in the United States. I had some leisure time when I was in India but US life is very busy, since apart from studying, I also have to cook, shoulder the responsibility of a house and get involved in all the Clubs and Committees that I have pledged time commitment to. If I get some spare time, I love writing and reading. I am a voracious reader. In the States, I spend weekends by inviting people from all over the world (International Students at ISU) to have Indian food at my apartment. I also teach Yoga to interested students at Iowa State University.

India produces one of the most intelligent and qualified professionals in the world. Although, Indian educational and social institutions sometime pressurize and overburden students with their studies. How do you find the education system in India?

The Indian educational system is unique and exceptional. It is different and I recommend the Indian educational system since it subjects students to immense learning and a broader and deeper understanding of concepts. I still criticize the concept of ‘rote learning’ in India. If it is replaced by ‘Practical and pragmatic’ approach towards understanding concepts, Indian educational system will see a revolution and be rewarded as the best educational system in the world. The credit of my ‘tender age’ success and accomplishments goes solely and completely to the distinguished Indian educational system. I am proud that India is still one of the leading countries producing the best of engineers, doctors, scientists, physicians, writers, and above all GOOD HUMAN BEINGS! However, there is still scope for improvement and a lot of amendments in the educational system!

You have so many friends, followers and fans in India and now you have also started showing your magic in Unites States, Do you have a girl in your life? Sorry if it is too personal.

I do have many close girlfriends but not a ‘girl’ in the true sense. I don’t want to get into a relationship since it is not appropriate for a person of my stature. Tomorrow, if a student, teacher, parent or any other person who has attended my workshop or knows me as a motivational speaker sees me on the road or in any picture flirting with a girl; it would be a disgrace and a shame for me! I must Practice what I preach otherwise it is useless and futile. I will get an appropriate girl at the appropriate time!

Which is your favorite online spot orkut or facebook?

As far as my Indian and Brazilian friends are concerned, Orkut is the best spot for social networking, but these days I prefer Facebook over Orkut since it is a lot more secure, classy and trendy!

I love Orkut too!

Any message to readers?

My life is my message to the readers. Dear readers, you must just ponder and think for a few seconds – If a 16 year old lad can do so much for the society, why can’t I ? I am not trying to brag about my achievements but just trying to tell you how important it is to get involved in serving HUMANITY and helping someone in need.  Service to man is Service to God.

One must bear in mind that Life is real and earnest and the grave is not the ultimate goal of life!

You can contact me on akapat3@gmail.com

Well, thanks a ton Zazo for considering me capable of being on Orkutheroes. It was fun and a delight to answer all your questions! Wish you and your team great success in all your future endeavors and May God bless u guys always!

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What could be better than being in the company of intelligent, smart and brilliant people? And when it comes to social networking where you have a large network of people hailing from different places and backgrounds, it feels great to be friend of someone most intelligent in all terms. On Orkutheroes, as we always featured interesting people and communities, there are many online communities which will give your brain an exercise to develop and to learn from other members, especially when you are fond of any particular subjects like Physics and Math. While surfing on orkut, I got to know some extra ordinary brilliant people who are not only responsible for creating and managing some very intellectual and impressive communities on orkut but also has set an example of gleaming mind with an inspiring persona.

I’ve discovered four different personalities with terrific academic backgrounds and brilliance in everything they do and everything they think.

Gaurav Tekriwal hails from Kolkata, he is a Vedic Mathematics enthusiast, a teacher and a someone struggling to copyright Vedic Maths as an Indian origin style of mathematics from early vedic period. Gaurav moderates biggest Vedic Mathematics community on orkut. Teaching high speed Vedic math to each and every mathematics student of the world and to show them how beautiful Vedic math is, that’s his main aim, professionally. When asked about his idol personality Gaurav said, “My Idol is Shakuntala Devi because she is the only Maths Ambassador we got. She’s done things which no one else has, travelled the world, amazed audiences and met loads of important people. Math needs that kind of a powerful ambassador to be promoted. I am happy to be working with her.” As a student Gaurav was not so serious about his subjects except math, he used to solve every model papers, and knew every text book related to maths available in market, clear concept and confidence made him a favorite of math or in better terms -math is his favorite. Beside math, Gaurav also likes History, Science and English Literature. Gaurav loves to Browsing on the Internet, Making Presentations on Powerpoint, Reading Non Fiction Books, and Reading about Business Stories, Studying the Stock Market, Planning, Music and Movies and just sleeping in for hours are some of his favorite pass time activities. Internet plays a major part in Gaurav Tekriwals’s life “I can’t do without the internet. It definitely plays an important role in my life. I get to meet so many different people from all walks of life through it. I get to promote India’s ancient heritage through it. I get to Network. Make Friends and learn about so many things. You get a broader perspective on the internet”.

Ali Ahmad is learning communication system engineering, his favorite academic subjects are Signal processing and Electromagnetism because it develop new methodologies and mechanisms. This 21 yr old brainiac is from Rawalpindi, Pakistan and he is persuaded and buoyant student who wants to become a successful engineer and researcher. Ali owns and moderates a very unique community on orkut known as “Memory Joggers” where he met many likeminded people who love smashing their brains, smashing, yeah! Just to improve their memories. Although, Ali’s favorite orkut community was Orkut Tricks which don’t exists now. Albert Einstein is Ali’s hero because Einstein’s theories and ideas flattered him too much. Besides playing computer games, internet surfing and doing some football tricks on ground Ali also loves to study about Mind sciences. Even though being a position holder in school, Ali never termed himself as a “very studious” student. He said “I really don’t give much time to studies, I just concentrate on the lecture and later I just have to revise the lesson” Ali gives credit to internet for half of his knowledge, he replied when asked “Do internet spoils your time?”

Bala Krishnan V. is a 25 yr old PhD student from an American university. He is a well known puzzle breaker among his friends, they call him super computer, genius and the great balak. Orkut puzzle community will always remember this genius who never skipped any thread without his answers, he is also one of the favorite moderator in Mathematics community on orkut. Bala  Krishnan loves Analytical thinking and logic and that’s why mathematics is his favorite subject. He wants to be a researcher because anything which requires logical thinking suits well on Bala Krishnan. Solving puzzles is his only pass time activities. Bala Krishnan was not studious but was a thirsty learner and his passion for learning anything which keeps its long term impact always attracted this south Indian brainiac.  On his orkut professional profile Bala Krishnan wrote about his job description which is really interesting and proves what’s going on inside his master piece brain “Trying to induce human-like intelligence to machines in the hope that eventually there will be machines working to induce machine-like intelligence to humans”. Internet plays a very major role in Balak’s life and he thinks he can’t do anything useful without internet. The great computer programmer Donald Knuth is his living idol.

Saurav Malviya a 23 year old owner of orkut’s top physics community is from Delhi and a final year student in bachelors of Engineering course in instrumentation and control engineering from Netaji Subhas Institute of Technology. This brainiac is a hard core physicist since his childhood; he always wanted to figure out that how actually things work. Saurav wants to do MBA and then to start his own company in field of research and development in computer technology. After physics Saurav’s other favorite subjects are maths, computer science, literature and world history. Saurav adores two personalities one an Indian independence hero Shaheed Bhagat Singh because of his courage and bravery to lay down his life for his nation and the other is Dr. Richard P Feynman a great scientist of modern times. Dr. Feyman’s way of teaching physics impressed Saurav to the extent that he realized that Dr Feynman’s way is the only best way to enjoy and learn physics. Saurav is a voracious reader of fantasy, horror, suspense, comedy and current affairs. However, studies occupied most of his time these days but he is also a keen debater, quizzer and dramatist. Saurav loves to hang out on his physics community of more than 100 thousand members on orkut and many other similar communities like Physics for Physicists, the physics library and the physics community. Interestingly, Saurav was a headache for his parents and teachers regarding studies, he said with a broad smile “I never seriously studied anything, and I don’t do that even now. Since my interests were in science and maths, I was quite good in them, and then in my plus two, computer science took my fancy, other than these and English, I’ve been a major cause of concern for both my parents and my teachers” still Saurav is crazy about subjects he loves. He takes internet as a most important tool in his research, studies and all academic works. Not only is this but he quite confidential in saying that “no engineer today can truly work on the cutting edge of technology without the use of internet”.

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