Way to Kodai..

Something very common about Kodaikanal is the way people describe the place as 'The Queen of hill stations'. I wondered what Kodai has got with it to be referred so high. I've been to this place twice in my life and last Friday, I successfully turned the number to 3 with 3 of my school friends. Sampark Kranti was the train that took us to Kodai road, which is located 95KM away from 'The Queen'. It was 3.30 A.M when we reached the place and the atmosphere was heavy with darkness. But, the road seemed to be pretty busy with buses and load trucks killing the silence of the atmosphere. We found a small hotel and were surprised to find one at such an odd hour of the day. Each of us had a cup of tea which tasted really good. We were not surprised by the taste because Kodaikanal is known for vegetables, tea estates, herbs and other natural products that are widely used. We came to know from the shop owner that the first bus of the day to Kodaikanal from this place would start at 5.40A.M and reach the destination at 8A.M approximately. So, we had ample amount of time to take rest but no place to do that. We had almost 2 full hours in hand and were not in any kind of hurry. Within the next 2 hours, each of us had already completed two cups of tea. We still felt we can have one more. But, it was already 5.30A.M and anytime, the bus might start its journey along the curvaceous mountains. This was where the first part of our journey to Kodai ended and a new episode began very soon after we boarded the bus.

Close in on the callers..

Sometimes you might receive calls from anonymous numbers and you may want to know who had called or at least where you received the calls from. If you have a caller ID instrument, that serves only half of this purpose. www.usaphonelookups.com lets you to use the reverse phone search service in order to get the address and other details about the anonymous numbers including the names of the owners of these numbers.

The Devil's triangle..

I came across an article tat spoke about this place called Bermuda Triangle. It seems they also call it The Devil's Triangle. Its a triangular region tat is found along de North American coast, wit Florida, San Juan n Puerto Rico forming the vertices of de triangle. Several incidents of aircraft n ship disappearances have been reported when these vessels try to cross de Triangular region. Scientists n Geologists have come up wit several theories. As usual, they go crazy when their theories r proved wrong by a more sensible explanation. Anyway, one of those explanations includes the hands of extra terrestrials. Further, de theory says ETs are using sum kind of technology far beyond human imagination that sucks in de gravity in tat particular region causing all de metallic bodies to disappear into thin air. This sounded ridiculous for sum, people who thought their theory of methane gas gives a befitting reply to de mystery of Bermuda Triangle. Though I dint understand that theory completely, I was quite satisfied wit it. It said at great depths of Atlantic Ocean, methane deposits are available which when increases tremendously in volume has the capability to form a thick white smog like atmosphere over n around de methane bed. Complying with this theory is de radio response of a pilot on-board an aircraft. Few moments before de aircraft disappeared while flying above de 'Devil's Triangle', de pilot yelled 'We're entering a green field. It’s completely green-filled here. Now it’s white'...Methane can satisfy de 'White' part of de pilot's response. What about de green part?? Explanations needed. There're more things on earth that we don’t know than things we know very well. That is de apt explanation to the Bermuda Triangle.

The police story..

I can talk for any number of days about my experiences with cops. When I say cops, I am not mentioning to those who are responsible of upholding law and order in the place. I am referring to those traffic police officers in Tamil Nadu who are no different from scavengers of money. I have seen traffic police catching people for driving over the yellow line on the road which separates the two sides of the road and acts as a median. I happened to find another funny incident, which proved rather unfortunate for the guy who was riding the bike. The signals in Chennai are fitted with timers and people are requested by the scrolling texts at the signals to switch off their vehicle engines if the counter shows more than 20 seconds for the Green to flash. I was standing right next to this rider. He killed his engine and removed the helmet. He took out the hanky from his pocket and started drying his hair which was completely wetted by sweat. The policeman at the signal saw him without the helmet. That was enough for him to get whatever he expected from this poor man who would be around 25. The policeman walked steadily towards the rider and took the vehicle key from the key slot and walked to the tree shade available near the platform as if he is the Mr.Coolest. This man walked to the policeman and asked him the reason for his senseless act. I overheard what the policeman said and it was 'You were not wearing the helmet'. I could see what that reply would have done to the young man and he was trying to tell him he removed the helmet since it was a red. Now, the rider started to get furious over the entire thing. He said he the engine was killed and that means he wasn't driving. The policeman was not prepared to lend ears to what this young man had to say. Finally, the sergeant returned to the spot after a sumptuous afternoon meal and got to know what happened from the traffic constable. That was when they started demanding Rs.100 as a fine for not wearing the helmet. I thought this guy was cornered. But, to my surprise, I found this guy telling the two policeman that he would get the vehicle from the court after facing the charges there and demanded a Tow van for the safe parking of the two wheeler and even stated that it is the duty of traffic police not only to tow the vehicles but to make sure the vehicles are safe and asked them for the receipt for the tow service. I stopped my bike closer to the platform, about 20 meters from the place where the three men stood, and was watching the grand Tamil Nadu Police department's defaming diplomats demanding (literally begging) for money. The traffic constable brought the bike which was obstructing other vehicles all this while, from the middle of the road to the platform. The policemen started to threaten him that he would be required to pay more in the court and asked him to act sensibly. The youngster let a jolt pass through the policemen when he asked them to take a look at the sticker near the taillight of his vehicle. After that, I was surprised by the way the two policemen let this man go without paying even a single penny. I was waiting for the guy to pass me by so that I can see what gave the policemen the big jerk which made them look like two stupid clowns on the road. I was so happy to find someone literally slap the police officers in front of a huge crowd with the word 'PRESS' behind his bike. Now, I know what I should do to escape these beggars next time. Soon, you can find the 'PRESS' graphics at the rear end of my bike. :P

Art of getting more traffic..

In my previous post about pulling traffic towards your domain, I was talking about something called Cbox. It was really very effective and my Alexa dropped from 23 million to 8 million in just 10 days. The best part of the Cbox is that even if you haven't visited someone's page, they can follow you to your blog if they come across your message on someone else's blog. Thus, you are not only getting the blog's owner back to your blog, but also bringing home several new visitors. That means it won't work as a blogger-to-blogger technique. Instead, your blog will be exposed to a large number of people all over the world. You need to visit at least 15 to 20 blogs a day and post your messages on the Cboxes available in all those blogs so that you stay at the top of the message list which means the probability of people following will be more. As your message sinks down to the bottom, people won't be able to follow you and you cannot get the visitors you want to your blog. Thus, you need to regularly keep posting messages on others' blogs so that people find your name at the top of the list and it would be easy for them to land on your blog because you can't expect everyone to scroll down the whole list of messages and particularly find your blog link to follow it. Bloggers are not here for that. They are here to blog. So, once you decide to make use of the Cbox advantage, you should balance your activities with what your visitors do for you. Revisiting their domains/blogs is very important and you can also browse through the first few messages in the Cbox of those blogs to follow unknown blogs which would soon add big numbers to the visitor count!

Increasing traffic..

So many people have asked me how to monetize their blogs, though I don't find a sincere blogger in me because I monetize all my blogs. Basic structure of the process to earn through blogs is very simple. You sign up for a free blogger account, start blogging about whatever you find interesting and popularize your blogs through various tools available on several sites that bring you good amount of traffic. If you feel this would take more time to develop yourself on the blogging platform, you always have the option to go for a domain with a good Page rank. After you acquire the domain from its administrator, you can start posting your blog son that domain. After you make some 10 or 15 quality posts on your new domain, you can register it with one of several pay sites which pay you for blogging for their advertisers. But, you should be fair on your part. Instead of making earning money the sole purpose of the domain, you should make it more productive, attractive and should bring more traffic to it. Back links play a very important role in making a domain or a blog retain it's Page rank. Numerous link exchange sites are available today which help you browse through their directories filled with domains and blogs of different page ranks from which you can select the domains with which you wish to exchange links. Better practice is to go for domains that have higher page rank than yours so that when Google updates the page ranks of domains, your domain would be able to sustain its status as it is. Advertisers expect blogs to have high amount of traffic. So, its your responsibility to draw more number of readers to your blog/domain. I found an excellent tool to bring a good amount of readers to your blog without the help of sites that say they can increase your traffic to a level from where you would be able to compete even with Google! Bullshit! There is something called Cbox. It's a message box which when added to your blog will be available for other bloggers to drop their messages for you. By following those who drop their messages on your blog, you can return them their favor and thus, bloggers around the globe would get mutually benefited by this. I used this Cbox and found that I can bring my blog as much as 60 visitors a day with no big strain. I am planning to discuss in my subsequent posts about other techniques to increase the visitor rate of a blog so that Alexa rank of the blog remains healthy.

Closing in on Kodai plan..

Finally, the day is about to come. In another 20 hours, if everything goes as planned, we would be in the train exactly at this time tomorrow on our way to Madurai. This Kodaikanal plan is something that is pending for a really long time now. Last year, we went to Kodaikanal as soon as I came back from my Kullu-Manali tour with college friends. When it comes to striking a balance between the importance I attach to school friends and college friends, I think I am a pro. I managed to plan a couple of tours with my college friends and my school friends as well. We had to come across so many hurdles to reach the position we are in now. We have got the train tickets to Madurai, which is the closest city to Kodai. First, it was one of my friends' parents who said they want their son to get employed before going on a fun trip. We tried everything within our scope to get him into the world of profession. Unfortunately, the company which recruited this guy put him on hold for four months to release the results of the four rounds of interviews my friend faced. At last, he received a call from the I.T firm and they said he has been selected to work for them. That was when the plan got back its life once again. Now, the atmosphere looks so jubilant because we are about to execute a plan that has been in the bag for a very long time now. We have been waiting for almost 8 months now to set things right for this plan to workout well. Hey my dear fellow bloggers and my most respectful followers and readers, I won't be seen here for the next 4 days. I'll join you in the blog league very soon! Have a great time blogging around!

Do we really respect the Father of our nation?

As far as we all know, Government wine shops, which are popularly known as TASMAC, and other outlets where liquors will be available on normal days should remain closed today which marks the birth of a Mahatma. I was taken aback after looking at what happened just outside a Government wine shop today in the evening. There were 3 men standing outside TASMAC and they were involved in some discussion among themselves. Suddenly, the shutter of the shop moved up slightly and I saw a man crawling out of the shop. I wasn't shocked to see the man coming out from a place which was supposed to remain closed today. But, what he carried with him hidden in his pants gave me a reason to question the respect these people have got for the man who is considered as the Father of the nation. If my friend who was standing beside me is not wrong, what he carried was Royal Challenge whisky in his right hand. This doesn't show the extent to which these liquors make one addicted to them. It shows the extent to which people have gone that they are totally uncontrollable over their temptations and desires. They can't hold on even for a day without liquors. Everyone is to be blamed here. I was passing by the shop and noticed what was happening there. I am pretty much sure even the Government officials who should have a check on these are very much aware of the illegal sale of liquor today. People who buy these hot drinks and also the one who sold the product know for sure that today is the day several years back when a Mahatma was born. Everyone is to be blamed here. During the course, we have forgotten what makes Gandhiji the Mahatma and what the purpose of the freedom he won for us after a non-violent fight is. If I had asked the alcoholic about freedom, I am too confident that he would reply 'Drinking even on Gandhi Jayanthi is freedom'. Let us not forget a great man.

Laptops with lucrative price tags..

People have started to shift from conventional desktop computers to portable laptops since the advantages in using laptops are quite numerous compared to desktop PCs. There are so many brands of cheap laptops available in the market and to get a clear picture of the long list of leading laptops producers, you can visit www.savebuckets.co.uk which contains almost all the details about every single brand of laptops. Some of the most popular brands in laptops are toshiba, apple, acer and Sony. If you want to know which one would make you a great deal by not compromising anything on the quality, performance and durability, you always have the option of comparing the prices of different brands of laptops on www.savebuckets.co.uk. Price comparison has never been as easy as it appears on this site because when you choose a cheap laptop which will carry a price tag, you can compare the features and cost of that product with other similar types of products lying within a particular range of cost. Also, when you purchase at www.savebuckets.co.uk, you can save your wallets from being squeezed and that means you will be left with more money using which you can go for one more laptop. Prices on www.savebuckets.co.uk are extremely reasonable and affordable which is one of the advantages you enjoy when you hunt for a laptop and find one on www.savebuckets.co.uk.

Government vegabonds..

Today, I had a bad experience with the traffic police officers again. This time, I felt I was really unfortunate for having bought a bike because I think I would have paid more than the cost of my bike as fine amounts to the cops. The traffic police in Chennai are so damn desperate that they are willing to do anything stupid with the public in order to squeeze the money out of people's pockets. There are police officers who stop those who are wearing helmets and have got all the proper vehicle documents just to scratch a piece of buck out of their wallets. This time also, I didn't do anything wrong. I received a call from one of my college friends and I had the time to bring the vehicle to a halt along the roadside and attended the call. After the conversation ended, I kept the mobile locked between my left ear and the helmet so that I can immediately attend the calls if I receive any. After a 2 minute ride, a traffic constable appeared in front of me and signed at me to bring the vehicle to him and that was exactly what I did. The mobile inside my helmet found exactly the wrong time to fall down and that was when fate turned its attention towards me. The constable asked me 'Talking over the phone while driving?'. I said I wasn't and I even gave him my mobile to check the information of the last call which I received from my friend. He checked the time and was pretty much convinced that I didn't go against the rules. But, what runs in him is the Indian Police blood. That made him argue with me and he put forth a question 'If you were not talking to anyone, then why the mobile phone inside your helmet was closer to your ear?' I don't know where I got the reason from. I quickly responded to him saying that my mobile phone's vibrator isn't working and that was the reason why I held the mobile closer to my ear in the helmet so that I would get to know as soon as someone calls me. He wasn't satisfied with the reason because it was not reason that he wanted. It was something else that he had his intentions upon. As an expert in dealing cops and talking to traffic constables, it was pretty easy for me to guess what was running on his mind. I went to the sergeant and explained to him the entire scenario. He understood that I wasn't using the mobile. But, once again, Indian Traffic Police. He wanted me to give what he expected. But, I was not prepared to be fined for a mistake I didn't commit. I kept arguing while the sergeant started filling up a form using the details he acquired from my license card. While he was busy doing this, I told him 'Sir I know I didn't cross the rules and even you do. Please don't waste a sheet of paper for sheer 50 bucks. I can pay that to you though I can't justify myself if I pay you the money. So, you can stop filling that form'. The guy appeared quite calm and replied 'No kid. Rules should be respected and you should be given a written record of what you have done' I asked him what I did. And once again I entered the world of explanation but the man, about 60, never seemed to loosen his end of the rope. Finally, I made call to one of my school friends who brought Rs.40 against Rs.500 which the cops demanded. When I handed over the 50 buck note to the sergeant, he was completely heated up and started venting his anger on me and not even my foot cared for that. Finally, he accepted the 'BRIBE' and threatened 'I'll make sure you get caught wherever you go in the city'. I replied 'You're welcome sir. You can catch hold of me if you find me really crossing the rules unlike what you just did now'. While I was about to leave, I told the constable who caught me 'Even you know I didn't use the mobile while riding'. He replied 'You should have been fined Rs.1, 100 as per the rule book'. I told him 'No rule book would say keeping the mobile closer to the ear while driving is wrong unless we use it to speak with someone or listen to music'. When he was retaliating, I left the place, leaving my foot to listen to his mouth!