tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-269823032024-03-12T21:41:52.200-07:00Vox MineThis is just a place for me to sound off - my own orange box in the Hyde Park of networld.Maijihttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06994981113905757827noreply@blogger.comBlogger5125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-26982303.post-89949631775152038682008-06-24T04:12:00.000-07:002008-06-24T04:17:53.315-07:00A BLOG MIX-UPThis is a cautionary tale for bloggers (read ME*) who bite off more than they can chew.<br /><br />My mother whose profile is shown alongside, started writing her memories for the younger generation. And I decided to put it in a blog. It is called <a href="http://memories-and-musings.blogspot.com/"><span style="font-style:italic;">Memories and Musings</span></a>, and received such a welcome from family and others, that my mother got into the habit of updating the blog with more memories.<br /><br />The thrill of creating a successful blog for Maiji, as we call my mother, and even posting pictures on them, prompted me to create one of my own, though I did not have much to say. Anyway I went ahead, and called it <span style="font-style:italic;">Vox Mine</span>. Techno granny my friends called me, and it went to my head, I think.<br /><br />I had got into the habit of updating both blogs, and somewhere down the line, managed to do something which made this <span style="font-style:italic;">Vox Mine</span> appear as if it was my mother’s - both blogs now belonged to Maiji!<br /><br />So I stopped posting anything on <span style="font-style:italic;">Vox Mine</span>.<br /><br />What is now on the blog are posts which I wrote earlier - Maiji who is credited as the owner is blameless. My own blog is now called <a href="http://rajirules.blogspot.com/">Raji's Ramblings.</a><br /><br />*Raji MuthukrishnanMaijihttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06994981113905757827noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-26982303.post-1147016520010543072006-05-07T08:23:00.000-07:002006-05-07T08:42:00.023-07:00The 'War of Freebies'There could not have been a better title for the ongoing election campaign in Tamilnadu - 'War of Freebies' as Cho called it.<br />This time tomorrow it will all be over, and the parties have shouted themselves hoarse in offering sops to voters - sops unheard of till now. <br />The DMK says Rs. 2 per kilo of rice if we come to power, and the ADMK says 10 kgs of free rice if we do.<br /> Free colour TVs and gas stoves to all, says DMK; four grams of gold for <em>thali</em> to every girl getting married, says ADMK.<br />Jobs will be offered to 3.5 lakhs of youngsters, says one - to more than 5 lakhs says another. <br />Perks that have been taken away will be restituted to TN Govt servants says DMK; students passing the Std. XII exams successfully will be given free computers says AIDMK.<br />How many of these promises are going to be kept? And how? From whose coffers? Do we see the taxpayers' burden increasing?<br />I have to vote tomorrow - but I already have a colour TV and gas stove, there are no girls of marriageable age in my home, no students who have written the twelfth exams.<br />So I think I will give my vote to the new party that has promised something I don't have if it comes to power - a <em>seemai pasu.</em>Maijihttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06994981113905757827noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-26982303.post-1146586720898911652006-05-02T09:05:00.001-07:002006-05-02T09:18:40.906-07:00ENGLISH AS SHE IS SPOKEToday’s The Hindu carried an article, 'Mangled by the cut-and-paste' culture about the way words have been misused and mis-spelt in English over the internet. <br />But that is just not just in netsphere, but in real life too.<br /><br />I have been often amused by helpful sales persons who assure me that a particular toilet soap is available in three different <strong>flavours</strong> (for fragrance, I guess).<br />Apart from those mentioned in the article are two common ones, <strong>at least </strong>and <strong>in spite</strong>, which are consistently spelt as one word. <strong>Up to </strong>is another such. Always manages to get my goat.<br />Some other irritants that come to mind are: <strong>called as </strong>(as is redundant) and <strong>comprises of </strong>(of not required)<br />But a living language is one that develops by assimilating, absorbing and remaining open to change, and that is why I think English has survived. No fanaticism here about using translations for words from some other word/other languages. <br />Would a <strong>soufflé </strong>feel just as light if it was merely a <strong>baked dish</strong>?<br /><br />http://www.hindu.com/2006/05/02/stories/2006050202022000.htmMaijihttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06994981113905757827noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-26982303.post-1146329105802028042006-04-29T09:31:00.000-07:002006-04-29T09:53:24.493-07:00Too much too soonHow Opal Mehta Got Kissed, Got Wild and Got a Life and Kaavya Viswanathan<br /><br />It was too good to last - a book by a very young author making headlines all over the world , her fantastic (by any standards) advance for books yet to be thought of, let alone written, immediate world wide recognition - could all have been straight out of a book (Maybe written by herself?).<br />Was it active plagiarisation, or a subconscious retention of passages read and transcribed?<br />A pity that a budding career had to be so swiftly nipped. <br />Will anyone publish her again?<br />See http://economictimes.indiatimes.com/articleshow/1509860.cmsMaijihttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06994981113905757827noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-26982303.post-1146020314436061012006-04-25T19:54:00.000-07:002006-04-25T19:58:34.446-07:00Having my sayNow that I have my own space to say something, I find that I don't have much to say!<br />Does that happen to all of us?<br />The minute you get some attention, whatever you wanted to say slips out of your mind, and you are there, looking ( and feeling, I bet) blank, while those whose attention you were waiting for, now wait for you expectantly to drop those pearls of wisdom.Maijihttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06994981113905757827noreply@blogger.com3