Maracas !!!!

Maracas is a traditional Latin American musical instrument. I have seen this rattle like instrument with so many fans cheering for Football, NBA and even in a few Cricket matches played outside India. But, I never heard it’s name or even the sound it makes, till my daughter asked “what it is? “, during Saturday’s Brazil vs Chile match.

Even I got curious to know about Maraca and started googling it for more.  In shape they resemble a pair of rattles, with an oval-shaped head filled with beads, beans, etc., and a slender handle.

They belong to the “percussion” family - a category of music instruments that means " hitting of one body against another." Similar instruments found in this family include the conga, bongo, and timbale. Because maracas are musical instruments that are sealed and create a full, distinctive tone, they are also classified as idiophones., many people call them as “Rumba Shakers” too!

Maracas are traditionally made of a dried shell, like from a coconut or gourd, filled with seeds, small stones, or beans. Here we go, we also made our own version of Maracas with a simple paper plate filled with assorted dall seeds/rice from our kitchen. Look at the fun below. Looks so professional, huh? :)

Thunai Ezhuthu [துணையெழுத்து]

I had heard a lot about "Thunai Ezhuthu". But never took a chance to get the book, till I read an episode in a two years old Ananda Vikatan magazine, laying on a book trash.

After reading that one episode, I told myself  “it’s not a book for a light reading or for a travel time pass. I should read when my daughter and wife are asleep and when the whole world around me, has nothing but silence.”  Very soon, I got such a rare occasion and I started sinking into the words of S.Ra.

Yes, my instincts are correct. He took me to another world which is never seen or felt by us. Yet he uses very simple language.A beautifully written book on various human emotions in multiple short chapters/stories.

If you want to get a sense of what life is - beyond our little circle of living and relationships, you must go through this book. Writer S.Rama Krishnan  is an intelligent spectator, a amazing interpreter, an excellent connector and above all a extraordinary narrator.

Every piece of writing in this book is very powerful and I am pleased that I picked the book at least now.

This is Phishing Season in India

There has been a flood of phishing emails received in my inbox in the last 2 months. (thanks to Gmail app which filters most of them appropriately).

With high rate of internet propagation and online bank usage, these phishing emails are also on an all-time high. I am just wondering how knowledgeable is our normal Indian public in handling these kind of frauds and how efficient are our Cyber laws dealing with such scams.

In the recent times, I had received phishing emails received in the name of many well renowned corporates from the United States, United Kingdom, Australia and even a lot from the names of ICICI Bank /AXIS, asking me to enter/ validate some of my account information. Interestingly these mailers look so genuine and can easily make fool of many.

Though Banks have been educating the user about Phishing, stating that they never ask for users access details, but not sure how much it reached the public. Also, how strong are the cyber laws in India and for any investigation to happen the investigation agencies has to tech savvy to understand the technicalities behind the fraud. 

God save our innocent people !

Round of 16 - ‪#‎FIFA World Cup 2014

Here's the final -16 teams and their fixtures

Bangalore Traffic - "It's awful!”

I was recalling as how relax a weekday would start about a decade ago, …

would wake up at 6.30 AM, take a walk to the nearby nayar tea shop,  get ready to office and leave home by 9.00 AM, it would take just 10 minutes to travel to my office, park my vehicle and then complete my register signing formalities and by the time I get to my desk, it would have hardly taken about half an hour since I left home. On my way back home it used to take just about the same time as the onward travel.

But in the last 10 years, traffic has increased by leaps and bounds, and reaching office and going back to home has become such as hectic task. Travel time has increased to more than one hour, if I had been to travel to same office place. Well, the situation has changed now.......and am in a different city – Bangalore, where the traffic is even horrible.

                             

Tell me, Will a 4 lane serve our bumper-to-bumper traffic at rush hour, or even a 8 lane road?. The important question is not how many lanes must be built to ease congestion, but to go for some proven alternates like carpooling, Cycling/using 2 wheeler, and public transport….etc.

Most of us know that widening roads to fight against traffic congestion is like buying larger clothe to fight back your obesity :), but still why do we cry for road widening ,while killing 100s of good old trees. It’s awful !!!

All that Messi touches turns to “GOAL”

No matter how many times I've seen Lionel Messi play the beautiful game, I always see something special each time.

What a free kick. Check out the magic below

Experience the CarConnect.in

I just heard about CarConnect.in through a contest mailer from #Indiblogger. It was pleasant experience navigating the site. Its all about your lovely cars and your long drive experiences with them.

The below pictures say it all!

 

As the name declares, it’s a connect site, connecting all the car owners who love their cars. You can read so many exciting experiences and trip stories all around the site.Though CarConnect site needs some improvements like additional login gateways (as of now only Facebook is the only Gateway to login) and uploading images in same area where we write our experience other than uploading it separately, I’m sure it’ll be taken into consideration and will look great in near future!

Car lovers, just visit this site once and you can spend more time in here. Who knows, some stories may inspire you to pack-up and go for a long trip immediately :)

Go on! Keep connected @ CarConnect.in

Luis Dracula Suarez ?

He did  it again! Why does Suarez keep biting players like Dracula? 

I guess it’s the 3^rd time, he's enjoying the sweaty meat… He bit Branislav of Chelsea about an year ago - then a player from Holland some time before - And now, the poor guy is Giorgio Chiellini.

Suarez, You might have knocked some favorites like Italy and England out of the tournament. But, now is the time that you're gonna be kicked out of the entire world of Football !

அர்த்தமுள்ள இந்து மதம் [ Meaningful Hindu Religion ]

அர்த்தமுள்ள இந்து மதம் by Kannathasan, is indeed a must have in anyone’s book shelf.

Though I am not an ardent follower (of many Hindu rituals), I certainly value the reasons and requirements hiding behind every activity/ rite of a TRUE Hindu. Many scientifically proven best known practices are being taught and trained just in the name of God / Religion. There are some or other reason for why every activity performed in the Hindu religion.

The writer Kannadasan, who himself was a firm atheist became a follower of Hindu religion while exploring the religion and unearthed many secrets in favor of the religion.

Here kannadasan is not only researching the Hindu religions and it’s believes. But he also is obliging the reason for life. This book is not only for a Hindu, but for everyone.

Arthamulla Indhu Madham is definitely a master piece from one of the great writers of India !

e-Book can be downloaded from here

Alternates to Google Adsense

How many times did you apply for Adsense account and got rejected?
.
It could be several times or more.

Maybe, you are still struggling to get approved by Adsense. Most of the new bloggers apply for Adsense many times and become disappointed after getting rejected by Adsense. But Adsense is not the only advertising network for publishers. There are a lot of ad networks that share decent amount of revenue to their publisher.

Here I am sharing the details of some of the alternates I am aware of,

1. Qadabra

Qadabra is a performance based advertisement network created for publishers to monetize their websites and traffic. I recently discovered Qadabra and their platform is simple and easy to use.

2. Chitika

Chitika is very similar to Adsense. One good thing is that you can use it along with Adsense and there are no problems at all. Chitika pays via Paypal ($10 USD minimum, which is good for starters)

3. Adversal

Adversal is a great alternative of Adsense and works as great as Chitika. They have good banners and the CTR and revenue adapts to get the best results for your website. I’ve seen the Ads on Adversal have a good CTR and they have good image ads too.                                          

4. Media.net

It offers customized ad units that fit with your site look. It also shows ad to the mobile phone and tablet users. Currently this network is not opened for public sign up. But you can request for invitation.

5. Bidvertiser

Bidvertiser is a pay per click advertising site that could be a great option if you didn’t get Adsense approval or got banned.It offers Text ads, Banner ads, Mobile Ads, Slider ads etc. You can also make money by promoting your customized toolbar.

Not only Apple, Google too catching the FIFA WC Fever

Google has been adding a lot to its Google Now feature, allowing it to slowly evolve into a core component of the Android OS!.

Only a few days ago, Google added FIFA 2014 information with some helpful Google Now cards. This allows users to view scores and other information about their favorite teams.

Check out the official video to know how it works !

FIFA WC Fever EVERYWHERE !

Those who have been hooked on to chart toppers like Candy Crush Saga or Subway Surf can now heave a sigh of relief and introduce themselves to something new.

The soccer mania seems to have taken over the iOS app store, with a dedicated section called Football Fever being introduced for hardcore fanatics of the game.

 Check out Apple owners !