For AdSense approval traffic volume is important, content not that much. Don’t tell me otherwise.

Most bloggers want to monetize their blogs, eventually. If you search the web for ‘monetizing blogs’, you will get thousands of links to websites sharing best strategies to monetize your site. Firstly, almost all of them have something to sell to you for sharing their thoughts on monetization. Secondly, they will preach that it is… Read More »

Emma John!

Me: “Hello! Yes, can’t hear you. The connection is shoddy. Could you speak in English and a bit louder, please?“ Voice at the other end: “(Inaudible) … Emma John…“ Me: “What now?“ Voice at the other end: “(Inaudible)… from Emma John… (inaudible)“ Me: “Emma John?“ Voice at the other end: “Yes, Emma John. Your package… Read More »

Live a little. You have got just one chance at this.

Recently, an engineering student named Pichikala Siddharth from the Indian Institute of Technology, Hyderabad committed suicide by jumping off the third floor of the campus building. According to his friends and family, he was suffering from depression. This was the third suicide in the campus in the past 8 months. On July 3 2019, a… Read More »

Here are a gazillion reasons why you shouldn’t be on social media.

The news out of the social media world today is that the CEO of AirAsia, Tony Fernandes, has quit Facebook in protest, after videos of New Zealand mosque attacks were posted on the platform. Fernandes tweeted saying that Facebook needs to “clean up and not just think of financials” and that “The amount of hate… Read More »

Humanity: Just when you wonder where it has disappeared, it shows up and surprises you.

Today, I got out of a fix, a big fix I have to say, because of help from a few strangers. Now, my faith in humanity is restored and is up by one-tenth of one percent. Well, maybe, a little more. Just kidding! Oh, the humanity! First of all, unequivocally speaking, driving on Indian roads… Read More »

All this hullabaloo surrounding New Year and Happy New Year greetings are a load of codswallop and not even worth a picayune.

I ran into a casual acquaintance, today, who first wished me a happy new year, then gave me a hug, and finally wanted a selfie with me. 21 days into 2019, and he wishes me a “Happy New Year.” This got me thinking, how far into a new year are you allowed to wish a… Read More »

Actionable advice: buying and consuming poison at a discounted price is still consuming poison. Stop justifying the cognitive dissonance.

On a recent flight, I was sitting next to two very chatty gentlemen. I had no intention of eavesdropping on their conversation. However, I had no choice but to hear them talk, as they were sitting right next to me and yapping nonstop. Both of them were chain smokers. They reeked of cigarette smoke and… Read More »

Actionable advice: do not gold plate or allow scope creep at workplace

Every project manager will undoubtedly know the definition of gold plating and scope creep, also known as requirement creep. For the uninitiated, to gold plate, in project management parlance, is to add any functionality or feature that was not a part of the original project scope plan. This does not mean that new features or… Read More »

A few reasons why we should say polyticks and polytickcians instead of politics and politicians…

Politics is derived from the Greek word Politiká, which mean “affairs of the cities” or “civic affairs“. Put differently, politics is about governance, the power of governing, or the “organized control over a human community, particularly [by] a state.” Politics, as per the dictionary, means the art and science of government. Therefore, a politician, by… Read More »

Mutual funds sahi hai (mutual funds are right) campaign: an ad blitz doing more harm than good?

For the last few months, I am noticing a sharp spike in the number of ‘invest in mutual funds‘ ads on TV and print. Even though my TV viewing is limited to around 20 minutes per day, mostly while having dinner with my mom, I still couldn’t help but notice the pervasive nature of those… Read More »

Homo bloviatus and Indian news television channels: A study on the origin and evolution of a new species of humans.

The scientific name of humans is Homo sapiens. Carl Linnaeus in 1758 had coined this taxonomic term. ‘Homo‘ means ‘man‘ and ‘sapiens‘ mean ‘wise‘. In other words, Homo sapiens is Latin for wise man. Wise man? O RLY? Fuggedaboutit. Humans may have been wise once, but many aren’t wise now. Many of us are dumber… Read More »