Dare The Dream!

Do you dream? Do you have a passion that you might want to fulfill with all your heart? Do you have any hobby that some day becomes your ambition, your obsession? Did you ever try giving everything else in your life a second priority just so that you can spend one whole day doing what you love to do the best? Well, if you happen to reply a "yes" to any of the above questions, then I'm sure you shall surely understand the amount of passion I possess for the things and people I love.

Incidentally, even I happen to possess a little dream of my own. It's been over 3 years now that I've been on the blogosphere. First it was Rediff, then Yahoo & now Blogger. Yet, I still can't call myself a pro in blogging. Yes, I've been a very slow learner as far as blogging is concerned. But I would also like to speak a few words in my defense. I'm not a born writer. I've been imbibing the art of writing into myself from the time I first started to blog. Moreover, I happen to study in a college where regular and active internet connection is almost non-existent (yeah I know, I've been putting up this particular reason for a long long time now. Unfortunately the course of engineering takes a minimum of 4 years, which is a long time in itself). The fact that I don't own a personal computer, at the hostel I stay in, only adds up to my woes.

I'm sorry, I guess I got deflected from the topic. I was talking about my dream, wasn't I? Well, I love blogging and I feel the time has finally come for me to start giving a makeover to my blog page. I've been using free templates all this while. It's a shame that I still couldn't muster the CSS and Photoshop. Now, I feel, it's high time I got a custom blog page built for myself. I have been scourging for web designers who could help me out with the same, for quite some time now. I have a good friend named Ashwin George who'd helped me a lot in the design part but unfortunately, it seems, he's too busy maintaining his own affairs. So, I thought, I need to start looking elsewhere. After much ado, I finally happened to come across "MoonArts.com" who seem to be great and are ready to get my web page revamped for $70 USD. I've decided to go for it. After all, first impressions do matter, don't they?

Unfortunately, I've got just $11.79 USD in my PayPal account and I shall have to depend on donations for the rest of it. Hence, if you feel that my blog page is worth a pinch of salt and that I have the power to attract more readers to my page, then kindly donate some amount (minimum $1 USD) to my PayPal account (id: shayon.pal@gmail.com). If you don't have an account on PayPal, you can still donate money by clicking on the "PayPal Donate" button on this page and transferring the dollar using your credit card. And yeah, it's absolutely safe. Kindly help me out in my quest. If you wish, I'm even ready to host a button or banner on my page linking to your establishment.

Lastly, but never the least, I'd like to thank my dear friend Sally for donating the first dollar. Thanks a lot.

An Afterthought : Just realized that this was the 100th post I this year. It's the highest me and Sakshi have ever posted. I hope this shows that we are on the right track.

New Year Resolutions

Huh, New Year Resolutions? Trust me, I'd never, not even for once,in my lifetime, made a single New Year Resolution. Why? Well, it just so happens that I'd never believed in the concept. But then, I was just reading Manavender's post on his new year's note which kinda got me all worked up and actually influenced to prepare a list of resolutions for the coming year, for myself :-P. Principally, I've hardly ever promised anything to anyone. However, this time the very idea of promising something to myself, kind of, intrigued me. It made me feel confident that if I can keep promises made to myself, I can always keep promises that I might make to someone else. I ain't sure if I'll be able to follow each one of them but I shall, sure as hell, try.

• The very first thing that I need to take care of is to get a living for myself. I know I can't ask anybody for it but I got to generate it myself.
  
  
• Secondly, it's high time I start maintaining multiple & specialist blogs.
  
  
• Need to build up a lot of contacts.
  
  
• Shall strive hard to pass out of the college ASAP.
  
  
• I shall have to try and get a li'l leaner.
  
  
• Get myself out of all my debts.
  
  
• Last, but never the least, I shall keep loving everyone who loves me back.
  

I could've written some more. Unfortunately I got 2-3 more resolutions that are meant for the public eye. And well, those who know me personally, shall understand why and what made me put up these resolutions. If you've made a resolution already, I wish you all the best in your efforts to stick to them. Wish me, too, luck so that I succeed in following mine.

Have a great year ahead!

A Letter From "The Alter Ego"

Dear Reader,

How do you do? First & foremost, I'd like to thank you for visiting my blog.

So, before we move on, do I have the liberty to ask you what you do for a living? Are you a journalist? Or is it that you're a doctor? Or probably an architect slogging your ass off for a multi national firm. Uhh...kindly pardon me if I've already started to bore you. You know, today, I've decided I'll keep a clear mind and write a letter to you asking about your health, your life and your feelings about this beloved blogpage of mine. I've been blogging for over 3 years now and yet, all I happen to manage is a meagre 22 subscribers and around 40 visitors to my page. I am not too sure exactly what is it that makes me crazy about blogging but here I am, trying to post something or the other, at every opportunity I can conjure up. Of course, I can blame the non-popularity of my page to my irregularity which in turn is because of the lack of a personal computer and an active internet connection in my college, where I live most of the time.

Okay, I'm sorry. This letter is not exactly about my problems and complaints in life. It's more about a decision that I need to take, a decision that needs to be sorted out soon. And for this, I shall desperately need your help. It is you who has been visiting and reading this page for a while now and it is you who can tell me if I'm good enough to be able to take it up as a career option. I know, I can always join up some company and then carry out blogging simultaenously, just like so many of the rest out there. But here comes the problem. I just don't think I'm the kind of material who would be happy and content working for some one else. I need my own decision making and creative independence. It's not that I've never tried a 9-5 job. I'd been with M/s Crompton Greaves for 2 months and I realized that it's just not for me. Yes, I'm good in programming and I love it too. Yet, I still find it weird to be coding for someone else. As for blogging, it's not just trying to earn by running adsense on my page. I have a much grander plan. Unfortunately, I shall need to be a little discreet about it out here. But yeah, if you think you shall be able to advise me on this, kindly leave your email address in the comments section and I shall be more than happy to get back to you. And well, it just so happens that I've been doing a few things in my life that I hardly loved. This apathy ended up with dire consequences and here I am, trying to figure out what I want outta my life.

I know I can write decent enough, I know I have enough interest in this field and I also know that I have good enough entrepreunal skills. What more, I am even eager to learn new things. And yes, I shall need to regiment my life and be regular. What else does a man need to be successful in his life? Do I really need outstanding academic records to be able to feed myself and raise a family happily? Or is it that I'm day-dreaming?

I shall sincerely hope that you've realized the kind of indecisiveness I'm struggling with and am very grateful that you felt this letter's worth the time you've sacrificed to read it. Thanks again.

Yours Truly,
The Alter Ego.

A Little Sneak Peek Into Latest Design Of "Shayon's Labyrinth" - Suggestions Expected

Remember my last post on update on the Labyrinth and when I'd informed about increased feed subscribers to this page where I was talking about giving this blog a new look? Well, I wasn't bluffing! The above pic is a new design that Ashwin just suggested that I could implement. Well, as far as I'm concerned, it definitely looks pretty good and futuristic but I'd rather prefer a planar look. I was thinking about joining the lines at the top and make the header look like a paper weight on the page. Or, I was also thinking of just making two sheets of rounded papers, one for the main posts and other for the sidebar and just keeping the header on top of them. If not, then we shall have to remove the gaps that have been created right below the header, in the above pic.

So, what do you say about it? Do you think our ideas are good enough? Or do you too have something to contribute? Do feel free to keep upping the comments count.

Sorting Out My GMail Inbox

Almost everyone uses GMail these days. I'm sure, you do too. So, how much of space has Google allocated to you? How frequently do you check your mails? Do you check your inbox neat and sorted out? Do you even feel the need of keeping your inbox organized? Well, I do. It's been long long time since I last sorted out my GMail inbox, labeled the mails properly and created filters to suit my needs. I donno what got into my head today but I just got myself determined to get the heap sorted out and well, it took me about an hour to get the thing done to my satisfaction. I realized, I've been using up 698MB of Google's allocated 2892MB of real estate and I have over 3K of mails in my archives. Well, I am certainly a net freak, I guess. Thankfully, I still haven't run out of my GMail quota, at least. :-P

An Awesome Break

Oh, I had almost forgotten to mention this. Just in case you were wondering how come there's not a single post for almost 10 days, after this one, it's just that a few of my very close buddies, namely Karma, Dion, Atri & Rathz, had been in town for a week. Had loadsa fun, between us and a few juniors too. If you wanna know about those 7-8 days, check out this post by Rathz.

Special: I had cooked chicken for about 8 guys. They say they loved it! ;-)

Climbing Up The Search Engine Ladder

Wow! Since the time I have been consciously trying to improve the PageRank of my page, this web page has climbed up quite a bit. I was just searching for my name (Shayon) on Google & Yahoo and, I must admit, I was impressed to check out the results. Not so long ago, I had to go to at least the next page to find my blog listed in the results and now, it' secures the 2nd place on Google and 3rd on Yahoo! I guess I shall have to be some more famous and stay online for a few years more to overtake Mr. Robert Lewis Shayon (top result on Google), who writes for Waymark Press :-p. And of course, I am surely gonna buy shayon.com (result #2 on Yahoo) one day, although $60 is a little too steep, I must say.

Oh boy! Ego surfing does make you feel happy!! ;-)

What a Wastage of Waste!

I had a lecture today evening, in college. The subject is known as OBIP or "Organizational Behavior & Industrial Psychology". The lecturer had commented something that have been getting me thinking for quite some time. Wanna give some thought to it? He said -

Nothing is a waste in this world. It is a waste because we don't know how to make use of it!

Configuring Google Reader

Life has changed a lot since I got this latest cell phone of mine. Now that I can access GPRS on the go, my thirst of reading news and latest updates from the technological world has been aptly quenched. The tool that has been helping me out the most is Google Reader. Okay, this is, most certainly, not a Google Reader sponsored post. It's just that, since it's been helping me a lot, I thought I'll let you all through a tutorial on this nifty gadget.

First & Foremost, even before you think of navigating to the Google Reader webpage, you need to know a little bit about RSS Feeds. If you're a regular blogger or at least stay online for a considerable long time, I'm sure you must have heard of the term. Now, the question is, what is a RSS Feed? Well, who can answer that better than Wikipedia? Well, I know, if you do happen to be a li'l technologically challenged, I'll write down a summary myself.

RSS actually stands for Really Simple Syndication. Now, what is Syndication, you might ask. According to eLOOK.org, the dictionary meaning of syndication means organizing into or administering as a syndicate. If you want a more comprehensive and to the context answer, you can refer to this post by Adam Kalsey. So, what do we do with these feeds and how can we procure them? Before that tell me something. Have you ever seen the following picture on the websites, while browsing?

If this pic looks familiar to you, then you do visit pages that offer RSS feeds. (Yeah, not every page offers RSS feeds.) It is these feeds that you need to supply to Feed Readers or Aggregators which, in return, procures the latest changes made in the so-called sites. Confused? Okay, let me put it this way. RSS Feeds are used by Feeds Aggregators so that they can deliver you the latest updates that are done in the websites that you visit more often. Say, for example, you happen to read news on a variety of web pages and also read loads of blogs. Now, these pages happen to change with new headlines and content every once in a while and it becomes very cumbersome to check each and every page for changes, frequently. This is where these feed aggregators come to your rescue. They automatically download the latest headlines of all the pages whose feeds you have provided and get them ready for you to view whenever you find the time. You can now skim through the topics and click on the interesting ones to read the rest of the article.

There are a lot of Feed aggregators available on the web. the ones I find worth mentioning are Google Reader, NewsGator, Bloglines, FeedDemon, Internet Explorer 7 & Mozilla Firefox. Here, in this post, I'll tell you how to setup Google Reader.

After you log into Google Reader using your Google Account ID (Gmail ID), you should be within the homepage. There, just keep a lookout on the blue colored bar to your left for the link "Add Subcription". Click on it and a little text box should appear. Refer to the picture below for details.

There, just paste in the Feed URL (RSS Feed) and you are ready to go. Just for you to start off, you can use the Feed URL of this blog. For the posts, it's http://feeds.feedburner.com/ShayonsLabyrinth and for the comments, it's http://feeds.feedburner.com/shayon/comments_labyrinth.

Now, as far as my blogs are concerned, you got the feeds served on the platter. How about the links to other blogs. Well, if it's a blog on Blogger, you are in for a comparatively easy time. Whenever you visit a blog page that's on Blogger (say, mine), just scroll absolutely down and you should be able to see a link saying "Subscribe to: Posts(Atom)". Can you spot it? It should be right below the area where all the posts on the homepage end. Well, just right click on "Posts (Atom)" and select "Copy link location" if you're using Mozilla Firefox or "Copy Shortcut" if you're using Internet Explorer. There are always equivalent commands in other browsers. Well, now that you've learnt how to siphon off a link from the web without actually clicking on it, just paste this link in the little text area on Google Reader, as shown above and you're off to a lovely start!

Now, how about blogs that are not on Blogger and other news sites? Always remember the keyword "Subscribe". If a certain website's offering feeds, they'd always have something or the other written on their page with "Subscribe" or look out for the RSS Feed icon I've shown above. Just right click on either of the text or the icon and the rest you know. For an example, I'll again use my blog page. Try scrolling down and keep a lookout for the phrases "Subscribe My Posts" and "Subscribe Comments" to the right sidebar. Could you find it? Consult the screenshot below, if not.


Well, now that you've learnt how to use Google Reader, try collecting feeds from other sites that you like to visit so often! Happy Reading!!

Updates & More Updates

Well, loads of Updates pending! Got the Harry Potter & The Deathly Hallows, yesterday. Finally back in college now. Had loadsa fun in Kolkata, this time. Still gotta write about my night stay in Howrah station. Then I'll be off with a review of the book. Yes, I'm gonna post the spoilers here! Oh by the way, I already have the ebook version of the latest Potter series. I've already mailed it to quite a few friends of mine who, I know, shall be interested. If you too want a copy, kindly leave your email address in the comments section. As for the rest, as I've already said, loads of updates are due, now. Hope i get to be more regular at the college Computer Center.

Ciao!!

My Visual DNA

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Claim To Fame!!!

Wow! What do I call it? "30 seconds of fame" or "2 hours of pain in the ass"? Well, as already mentioned in Sakshi's post, this blogpage got mentioned (pretty abundantly, I'd say) in The Telegraph, Calcutta edition, on the January 30th, 2007 (thanks to Ms Suchi Arya). Oh man, I'd started this page just to vent out my frustrations in life and improve my writing skills, in general. Trust me, being in an engineering college, the scope to be creative in the literary department in just too limited. After getting into my present relationship, I had invited Sakshi tow rite here because I felt she had good enough ideas to think aloud and what more, her array array of topics actually supplemented mine. And well, I must admit, owing to limited internet connectivity in my college, it was getting too trying on me to keep this page updated as regularly as I'd like to.

I guess, that "master" move of mine paid off ;-) Combined with both Sakshi & my thoughts and the huge popularity on Blogger, we did happen to grab some attention. Yes, I was certainly pleasantly surprised when Suchi commented on one of my posts, informing about the article. It was a good piece that she'd finally produced. However, there's one li'l issue where I've been a bit unhappy about. I know, my page is called "Shayon's Labyrinth", but then again, I'd have appreciated if she had mentioned Sakshi's name as well. I personally feel she deserved that much, being the co-contributor of my blog, especially when Suchi had actually quoted one of Sakshi's innumerable posts, in the article.

Anyways, on my personal front, it's study time now. There'd been some issues in my relationships which I've finally managed to clear out, I hope. Got exams coming up, end of this month. And, oh yes, my second year anniversary of my relationship's coming up. Yes, I'd proposed to her on February 14, 2005! Cyber gaming still on the roll and furiously planning to reduce both my weight and waist! ;-)

Well, that is it, for now. Hope I get to write again, soon!


P.S: Any idea why I wrote "pain in the ass" in my very first line of the post? ;-)

A long wait...

It's been long time now...really long long time. Seriously, I just haven't been able to conjure up some quality time to come online & post something, especially since the time I've been back in my college. What with the incessant power cuts and aweful internet connectivity....and to top it all, the hour-long wait necessary just 'coz the authorities say the UPS needs that time to get charged, every time the light's back! What a waste of resources, I'll say!!

It isn't that I have been away from the blogging scene completely...have surely been checking out my friends' posts, even commenting on them as and when I deemed fit. It's just that I used to get pretty lethargic when it came to updating my own space. I was just checking out one of my friends' posts while I suddenly felt the urge to write, all of a sudden....hence this post!

In the past few months, I realized quite a few of my old chums are already on the blogging scene & I was hardly aware. Two of them are Paresh & Vernika. Thanks to Orkut, now I not only get to connect to my long lost friends, I actually get to know who all of them blog and who don't. It certainly feels good to know quite a few people in flesh & blood who too share your passion for blogs.

Well, I'm sure some of you would be wanting to know what has been happening in my life in the past few months, aren't you? Seriously, I haven't really been doing anything ultra-productive with my time. It's just that I'm trying to detach myself from the idea of a so-called "ideal society" that I'd always dreamed to transform the current scenario into. These few months taught me a few more lessons of life. These few months made me realize that it's high time I started sorting out my acquaintances in groups, just like in Orkut (Oh boy, ain't I not hooked onto it real bad!! :-p). And it also made me realize that a saying that I'd heard long back, is pretty true. It says:

He who has many friends, Has none!

Suddenly, I realize that it's high time I actually started looking after myself, than making altruism my motto in life. Suddenly, I realized that to be successful & have peace, u gotta be selfish at one point in ur life, or other.

I'm still on my way of reinventing myself. But I hope I shall succeed in it, tomorrow, if not today! All I want is support, support from the people I love....supposrt from the people who care for me! That is all I want, that is all I shall ever ask from you guys!!

PS: What do you think? Didn't I spend the last few dormant months of mine pretty constructively??

Just a few random thoughts...

The countdown finally starts...the countdown to the ultimate doom...the end semester examinations for my 4th Semester. They say it's gonna be from the 22nd of May, till the 26th. And after the initial setback, there are the vivas and submissions in the pffing. That means, absolutely no chance, whatsoever, to get rid of this god-forsaken town until the 5th of June. And to add to the woes, I got my supplementary papers from the 12th of July. That means my Birthday's (July 07) screwed up royally, for sure. And then, Sakshi's expected in Mumbai around the end of June. She's supposed to be there for around a week & owing to my papers, it's gonna be so bloody tuff for me to be out with her each & every day. I'll be forced to glue my ass to the chair 24x7. Although I'm racking my brains to the best of my abilities, I'm not sure how much shall I accomplish.

Quite a few of my buddies, who were studying B. Sc., are gonna graduate in a few days. The rest have already started to prepare for their campus. It's hardly two months now till the recruiting companies start pouring into our campus. All my chums, who I started my college with, are gonna get placed & get their future secured. What a huge camaradarie the hostels have become. Folks have already completed the half of Barron's. The rest are trying to improve their communication & group discussion skills. A group or two have also started to converse in English, among themselves, 24x7. I look at them all and wonder if I too could've appeared in my campus placement examinations this time, had I not been a fool on the 3rd of August, 2004. I guess it's all pre-written on the forehead. Probably there's someone out there who has a storeroom, the size of Google Complex, filled with huge nore-books upto every nook & cranny. And in those note-books are where our fates are all written out, right from the first day to the last of our lives. Or if he/she happens to be tech savvy, there just might be a chance for our fates to be digitised into terabytes of intellectual real estate!!

Just 10 things....

Hmm...the time's finally here to be back to college. Won't say I'm too happy, but neither am I too sad. Anyways, just before I left, I thought why not list out a few things about me, just a way of introspection. Do lemme know what you think about these.

10 things I intend to do:

• Attend classes a li'l more regularly.
• Be a li'l more diligent in keeping this beloved page of mine updated!
• Give Dr.Saxena (my ex-HOD) a whack on his back before I get to leave this college.
• Get a job, so that at least I don't need to ask Dad for money to call up my gf.
  
• Create a library of my all time fav English, Hindi n Bong movies.
• Vanish my ugly double chin.
• Coax Dad to buy me a comp before next semester.
• Get my gf a nice li'l present on our 2nd year anniversary. (I couldn't gv her anything on the 1st year & it ached my heart so very much. And all this just 'coz of shortage of funds, Yuck!!)
• Be good to my parents and give them at least one chance in their lifetime to be very proud of me.
• Last but never the least, I wanna adhere to each of the above 9 points, as strictly as I can manage!!

10 things I suppose I can do :

• Hog, hog & hog. You wanna order all the eye candy you can get while I'm accompanying you to any restaurant. Trust me, I won't let your money go waste ;-)
• Rake up at least 8 CGPA in my next sem.
• Keep typing hundreds of lines of scary looking code, day & night, provided I get paid good.
• Play WarCraft & Condition Zero day in & day out, without any need for sleep or rest.
• Sleep for hours at end. Seriously, if I ever get into the mood of sleeping, I hope u can afford a big enuff band baaja to make me wake up n do some productive work.
• Write an Autobiography that can rake in quite some money. Seriously, so much has happened in my 20 years of life, I can easily create a minimum of 500 pages of book, with not a single page being drag.
• Behave in such a way that'll compel almost everybody around me curse in every language you might be able to come across, in this subcontinent.
• Pass really saucy comments at the gals in my college ;-)
• Be the most diplomatic guy you've ever met in your life.
• Love my comp more than I love myself.

10 things I think I can't do :

• Stay off the internet.
• Quit smoking.
• Eat Neem leaves (despite Ma harrowing me on it's huge benefits).
• Be as romantic as my gal would love me to be.
• Change the Indian Education System. Despite me being an ardent lover of my country, I hate the system.
• Be a politician.
• Spend a day without Heavy Metal.
• Sing.
• Stop flirting.
• Understand the psychology of Women.

10 words I use most :

• Well...
• Hmmm...
• Whatever.
• What the fuck?
• May the Devil forbid.
• I guess.
  
• HeHe
• Wassup?
• Sweetheart
• Bloody Bastard

Well, that is it for now, I guess. It was much tougher than I'd expected. Had to think up so bloody much. My grey cells are too tired. I think I'll stop now. Do wish me Bon Voyage..!!

Me - The Eccentric..!!!

Hmm...trust me, it's no microscopic pic of Spirogyra and neither is it Volvox algae. Coming to layman terms, it's actually just a small plant in my house that I'd clicked with the cam's lense all buried into the leaves, switched off all the surrounding lights and got the night vision on. And well, here's the final effect for you..!!

I'm sure it's a bit easy for you to guess. Yup, they're the pins, all stuck into my stapler. Don't ask me, even I don't know how the idea suddenly struck me :-p !!

I just hope you don't cringe when I tell you what this one actually is :-) It's actually the drain mouth of my bathroom's sink!! LoL...!!!

This one's pretty simple. It's just the torch of my mobile, NOKIA 1108!!!!

Nah...this is no hill station...just a par of this year's Indian Railways Time Table. HeHe...I'm sure I got you on that..!!!

Okay, I won't say what this one is. I leave it on to you to figure it out. (Seriously, I'm just tryin to encourage you to leave something in my page after you go through it. Even a simple word of appreciation soars my adrenaline level sky high!)

This is no Canine's teeth, just the teeth of one of hundreds of humble air clips that belong to Ma! ;-)

And now...the best for the last! I'm sure I don't need to elaborate on what this one actually is, do I??

I Love You, hon!