My Visit To Puducherry …

Though it lasted merely 2 to 3 days , all that I brought back was a treasure trove full of memories from this Union Territory(UT) . It was also the first UT I visited when I was in India.

Introduction :

Poduke or Poduca (a marketplace , probably now known as Arikamedu , near Ariyankuppam) was a Roman trading destination from the 3rd century BCE , located about 2 miles (3.2 km) from what was now known as the modern city of Pondicherry. The area was part of the Pallava Kingdom of Kanchipuram in the 4th century. The Cholas of Thanjavur held it from the 10th to 13th centuries until it was replaced by the Pandya Kingdom in the 13th century. The Vijayanagar Empire took control of almost all of the south of India , including that particular area , in the 14th century and maintained control until 1638 when they were supplanted by the Sultan of Bijapur. Then ,in 1674 the French East India Company set up a trading centre at Pondicherry and this outpost eventually became the chief French settlement in India. The French governor François Martin made remarkable improvements to the city and its commercial ties, facing at the same time strong opposition from the Dutch and the English. He entered into extended negotiations with the sultans of Golconda through the intercession of several roving French merchants and doctors who were in favour with the Sultan. Trading in jewelry and precious stones which had become highly fashionable in European courts was one among many activities. Five trading posts were established along the south Indian coast between 1668 and 1674. The city was separated by a canal into the French Quarter and the Indian Quarter. It managed to retain itself from being captured permanently by the Dutch and the British. That was , until 1954 , seven years after India’s independence from British rule , the de facto transfer of these French Indian territories from French governance to the Indian union took place on 1 November 1954 and was established as the union territory of Pondicherry.

Arrival Into Puducherry :-

My family of four started from Chennai in the wee morning hours on the eve of Diwali . That went off extremely well . View it in this Insta Reel from my Insta handle , @mohitvuyala2021 :

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Staying in Puducherry :-

By the time we arrived at Pondicherry , or Puducherry , as it’s locals prefer to also call it , it was probably past noon. I was also told about my relatives , who were also planning to see us. After a brief receiving between my cousins’ family and my family , we departed from Bommaripalayam ( where they were staying ) to the first place we would visit : Serenity Beach ! Check out the whole video from my Insta handle , @mohitvuyala2021 :

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Then , I and my family members came back to that place , only to find it was now teeming with all of my uncle and aunt’s cousins, who were in the mood of swimming. That lasted another hour , and after everything was done , we ( my family) bid our goodbyes to them and my family continued onto an inn where we will stay for the remainder period of our trip in Puducherry. The inn was located between the usual atmosphere of a typical Indian town and the French part of Puducherry , also known as the “White Town”.

A few hours later , we visited the Aurobindo Ashram , located in the “White Town”. It was the home of Saint Aurobindo , who , along with a French lady , The Mother (earlier known as Mira Alfassa) , along with some disciples in 1926. Upon entering the premises , it had to be full of absolute silence when we were near the grave : not even a bit of conversation had to go on. After that , we made our way into the various sections of the ashram , including a bookshop full of memoirs.

Then , we visited the Notre Dame des Anges ( Our Lady Of Angels) Church , which is said to be the oldest church in Puducherry . The atmosphere all around it was appealing and it looked like as if we were in a paradise.

Later , in the evening , we made our way to the rocky “Rock beach”. Half of the beach was lined up with big , polygonal-shaped rocks. To it’s side , it was lined up with a neat walkway , complete with lighthouses , pillars and a French war memorial.

On Day 2 , we made our way to the POP ( Pondy Ocean Park) , an amusement park complete with boats. They play a role in ferrying the tourists from the park to an island called “New Paradise Beach”. That was the third beach I visited , in a row. It had all sorts of plain activities – horse riding , ATV’s , and all the like.

However , POP had all the typical rides a normal amusement park will have – ziplines , rocket ejectors , paintball , , and much more.There , I tried out the “Rocket Ejectors”. It was a bit scary – as it propelled me to such a huge height I was not even used to before , but in the end , I really enjoyed it.

Afterwards , it was time to explore the Botanical Garden . It had thousands of varieties of herbs , shrubs , creepers , climbers and trees . It had some fancy statues and decorations , along with an aquarium in the heart of the garden , which houses many species of fish and other sea creatures.It even had a toy train ride , which can take people all around the garden.

By then , we worked up an appetite , which means it was time for lunch. And where else could we have a humongous lunch , but in the restaurant called “Surguru Spot” . At first , my parents were confused with the spelling , but that got cleared in the end , and so , we had the best lunch ever – three big thalis.

Then , in the evening , we went shopping in the first ever mall of Puducherry – “Providence Mall”. It wasn’t as big as the two malls that were near my house – Grand Square and Phoenix Market City. However , it had around 24 shops and a huge food court – which is modest enough for the average shopper.

Finally , we ended the day with dinner , again at “Surguru Spot”.

And , on Day 3 , the first stop : Sunrise Point. It does live upto it’s name : although it is a mere beach , you could see the sunrise from a distance . It’s two ends were lined up with rocky pathways , but there were far lesser number of rocks , as compared to the Rocky beach , and due to the same leveling of the beach and the pathways , you could easily walk on them.

The sunrise lasted for sometime ; later it got hidden behind the clouds.

I thought I could live for another day in Puducherry , but it was only after I came back to the inn that I came to know from my parents , that it was time to leave. My uncle’s family and their cousins have already left Puducherry the day before , and now , it was our turn.

But , before bidding aideu to Puducherry , there were two more places to go :-

• Auroville.
• Sri Karaneswar Nataraja Temple.

Remember Sri Aurobindo and The Mother and the Aurobindo Ashram ? But , the cultural reform movements that they initiated began long , long ago in Auroville , which was 10 kilometres from Puducherry , and even included Bommaripalayam ( the place where my uncle’s family stayed) in that route. First , we had to head to the Auroville Visitor’s Center , where a lot of information about Auroville ,including the Matamandir Sanitarium ,the centre of Aurovillie , was displayed , including a 10 minute short film that is played in a loop. That is where we had to buy the tickets to gain access to visit it . Then , it is a kilometre long walk to the Matamandir Sanitarium , a hemispherical dome with a well-planned layout,which you can see from here :

Also ,check out some pictures from my Insta handle , @mohitvuyala2021:

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After nearly an hour in Auroville , we found out Aurovillie gives free bus services for the return journey to the Visitor’s Centre. Then , we hopped onto one such bus and belive it or not , we were finally back to the centre. I and my family checked out traditional and eco-freindly products from the many shops tucked inside the area of the center. after which we departed for the Karneshwar Natarajar Temple.

Karneshwar Natarajar Temple

It is a temple which is of a completely different shape: pyramidal , just like those in Egypt. (Normally , temples have “gopurams” or square pyramidal roof covers , like the ones in Sabarimala.), but , by the time we came , it was the time of closure , but the priest there gave us time to take dharshan of the deity , and after that , with a lot of memories stored in our heads for ages to come ,we departed Puducherry to our home in Chennai.

Conclusion :-

Puducherry is indeed a place which never fails to awe anybody from not just India , but the whole world. Being a French colony , it’s reflection of French culture and tradition is also shown through the residential spaces and market squares , designated to that area , the “White Town”.In a nutshell , I mean to say that whichever place of India you visit may look the same by a quick first glance , but go a little deeper and then you will find that each place of the nation’s history will have a different influence over time. Irrespective of that , I am proud to witness these unseen treasures India is offering us ! Appreciate them ,don’t take them for granted and spoil them !

Also , Happy New Year (in advance) to everyone !

Thank you !

Madharas Resturant Review…

In an earlier blog , two months ago , I have mentioned about a restaurant called “Madharas” towards it’s end. And this month will now have me showcasing what is this restaurant and what it does.

Opened in my locality on the 26th of March this year , Madharas is a new-gen and a purely vegetarian restaurant which surely lives up to it’s name. A fusion of cuisines across the globe are concentrated into one single , pleasant and ambient restaurant which prepares a variety of foods , as if they have been conjured by a magician , to satisfy our tingling tastebuds.

Even the COVID-19 pandemic could not stop it’s operations at any cost , thanks to a flexible option to order from the comfort of our homes or even the good ol takeaways.

This month’s blog of mine will focus on the review of this resturant from my point of view. (Don’t worry , “my” means me , Mohit.V.S , not Blogging All Day with Mohit Vuyala !) . So , without any further ado , let us get started , as i unfold my experience with much grace and elan.

Ambience :

As I , along with my family , stepped into the resturant , I can surely give the ambeince a full 10/10 for it’s retro-cum-trendy look. The ground floors have plushy sofas , wide tables , hidden bathrooms , a projecter telecasting IPL cricket matches and a counter for making the cocktails and mocktails. Going up the yellow metal stairs , the first floor has more spacious seating areas , another projecter telecasting IPL as well , funky icons depicting the heritage of Madras(Chennai) , along with a “Punch Dialogue” image to the extreme right. There was also an elevator which took the cutlery and dishes along the ground and the first floor of the resturant. There was also a second floor as well , which , I think , might be the place where the food gets cooked – a kitchen.

Food :-

Now for the moment of the truth – and also the language of hunger – food ! This deserves another full 10/10 because there is so much of food to check out , leaving people spoilt for choice.

First things first , I started off with the pizza – “Farmer’s Choice”. It was a thin crust flatbread loaded with cheese , paneer and vegetables to the brim. The fusion of all this was what I can call it the most ultimate and supercalifragilisticexpialidocious pizza , ever !

Pizza – Farmer’s Choice

After that , enchiladas – a Mexican dish , which resembles a typical wrap , stuffed with vegetables and paneer (like the pizza) , topped with melted cheese and tomato sauce . It comes with a cup of salsa and sour cream (though sour cream is provided separately). From the very first bite , it’s vibrant burst of a typical dish of the Mexican cuisine , was just way too much to handle – it tempts us to just keep eating away. It was only through the enchiladas that made me aware about the “magic” the restaurant conjures to please it’s customers.

Enchiladas – A Mexican dish.

Wanting to indulge further in the world of fusion cuisines , it was time to take this one step further , with the lasagna. It is a Italian pasta dish made up of alternating layers of slightly thick pasta sheets , loaded with vegetables and cottage cheese (spices) along with herbs , and the top layer is covered with tomato sauce , cheese ans some olives . The lasagana came with two crunchy pieces of garlic bread placed on either side of this pasta dish.

Again , I liked the flavouring of the lasagna , except for one thing : the sheets , being slightly thick , are highly stomach filling. So , while eating the lasagana , it will be good if it is consumed in this form : pasta sheet + filling + top layer + dipping.

Lasagna – An Italian dish of alternating layers of pasta sheets and vegetables.

At this point , eating three dishes nearly filled my stomach. Desserts , as everyone believe , are always the best way to end a meal, and there was no denying in the case of the Sizzling Brownie. Unlike some restaurants , where it was just the brownie , ice cream and hot chocolate sauce , Madharas offered the Sizzling Brownie in it’s unique style : a 25% bigger brownie , an even bigger scoop of ice cream , lavish and silky smooth hot chocolate sauce , an option to add nuts as it’s toppings. The result : an utterly irresistible and heavenly world of the goodness of the Sizzling Brownie.

Time for dessert ! – Sizzling Brownie

Other comments :-

Madharas does know it’s best ever way to please it’s customers : You can eat whatever you want , and still wish for more.

Another thing I like about this restaurant is that you can even get your dish packed to be consumed later in the comfort of your home. I encourage this , because this restaurant is doing the right step in preventing a menace in our country ,food shortage.

Last , but not the least , the time and the commitments taken by the chefs is the best in this particular restaurant. This also includes the friendly attitude of the waiters.

In short , this is the best ever restaurant I’ve been to in a long time , and I hope that this restaurant maintains it’s decorum.

Thank you !

One Year of my Blogging Site…

September was my lucky month . It was on the 5th of that month , when I finally decided to lay down my biggest , shining dream in the digital space : blogs. After waiting for nearly five years , I decided to show the people what my aspiration was.

Introduction :

Sipping my banana smoothie on that rainy day , I was thinking this way : what would happen if I could jot down all my thoughts into such text posts which not only gives a framework of myself , but also gives some awareness to people who see my blogs. This was one of my foundation ideas , that lead into the creation of this blogging site , “Blogging All Day with Mohit Vuyala” , by myself , Mohit VS , and it has just completed one year into it’s founding. Here is to “one small step for man , one giant leap in the digital space” !

A rough start :

It has been hardly half a year of the world going into the digital space when I started this blog site. I used to make small blog posts and would send them continiously in the beginning ,but slowly restricted them to once a month , the practice which I have been following since the beginning of this year.So , voila , big , juicy blog posts with enough content to enrich our knowledge – the result of a month’s long hardwork on my blogs !

Blogging really helped me to relax a bit after along session of studying or when I felt bored or when I had a strong craving of distraction . Although they may be a profession, I feel it might not be my major prefernce , because anyways I decided to blog in order to let people know about my thoughts and my day-to-day life procedures.

My Arrival Into Youtube :

Then , I realised that I could gain more success if I expanded my digital creativity along various platforms. So , I started a YouTube channel the same month, where I posted videos anytime between one to three months. Just like my blogging site , I had a rough start in the world of Youtube Creator Studio and in developing my channel. Slowly , I learnt all other sorts of making videos , customising it with templates , security with 2 Step Verification, copyright checks and a lot more .

Here is my YouTube Channel , by the way :

My Youtube Channel

Spreading My Wings Deep Into the Digital Space :

Armed with all the knowledge I have gained from both of these sites , I decided to spread my wings and “show the world” what I actually do while I go digital. I then created more sites listed below :

My Facebook Page :-

In my conquest to increase viewership traffic , I initially used to share my blog site through chats only . To end that tireless activity , I found the option that links my site to social media , like Facebook , and I created a FB page under the same name as that of my site. Now , what this will do ? After I publish a blog , not only will it get posted to my site , but also to my FB page as well ! So , a bit of a win-win for my site !

People may think Facebook cares less about privacy ! But , in my case , I feel it really is a great platform to showcase my blogging prowess ! Apart from my blogs , I have posted a few videos and podcasts which I have done this year and all sorts of general stuff sandwiched between them.

Here it is , my precious FB page ! And , by the way , my site tagline is “mohittheblogger”.

My FB Page

Instagram :-

It is also another social media site owned by Facebook . It helps us to post photos , interactive content and a variety of videos ranging from short “Reels” to Boomerangs to IGTV videos.

My Instagram may not be as bustling as you may think , but over time I will be able to fill it up with content which shall entertain you all !

My Insta Profile

Summary :-

A year ago , I would have restricted my contact in the world of Internet to only blogs. But , following the “Dream,Dare,Do” mantra led me to my significant mark as well as my recognition in the ever bustling world of content creation and the like. Though it has been only a year of my leap into blogging , I have just got started and have taken the first step towards acheiving more in the virtual world ! Who knows what I might as well as do next till my blog site turns two years old !

As this quote says so , blogs are not mere rough notes , they are a masterpiece – one that form an impression about ourselves . So , my final request to everyone is as follows : We must learn to be who we wish to be , not as a form of pressure from others !

Follow your passions ! Live your dreams ! Be the personality/profession whom you admire the most !

Thank you so much for being a part of my Blogging Site !!!!!

A reunion that came from nowhere !

It was on 12th of this month. I was in my usual busy self. And “toing”, came this chat message that really changed my history forever.

This was sent by one of my friends in my old class group.

Upto now , I was much of that sort of a guy who always wanted his damn privacy. But I knew this might be the best opportunity to make amends with my old classmates and to move on with peace in life.

And then by 10:56 pm , I was in.

Ready or not , here I come !

Then , a series of changes took place. That location where we decided to meet up became Barbecue Nation , instead of Coal Barbecue. Reasons being much closer to our homes and was right inside a mall (we decided on roaming around the mall after a nice lunch).

Next , two of them are abroad ( they had to undergo 14 day quarantine if they came here) which would mean their arrival would cause delay in the reunion.

Coal Barbecue ,the original location of the reunion. It was changed before the event.

Barbeque Nation : That is where the reunion took place.

It was founded by Sajid Dhanani in Dombivili , Mumbai in 2006.

Days quickly flew by and the day of the reunion arrived : August 15 , India’s Independence Day !

The receiving went well : I was glad I could be still be recognized by my own classmates.Then we settled down for lunch. After lunch , we celebrated the birthday of two of my classmates , Dinesh and Sriram(their actual birthday was on 21st of this month) and enthusiastic selfie lovers posed for quirky selfies.

Here was what I did : I took pics of some of them preparing for selfies !

Caught you , selfie-lovers !

Some shook a leg to their favorite songs as well. I mingled well with everyone present in the reunion and struck a good chord with them.

Proof of the 21st century lifestyle , indeed ! Despite a COVID – 19 pandemic , nothing stopped us from organizing such a gathering ! Some things never change !

After the lunch , it was for the payment for the buffet ( that was the lunch we had ). I had a bit of confusion with the price ( Since I was a vegetarian, it was 800 for veg-buffet , not 850 , as the group we maintained said so.), but that got cleared in the end.

Later , we decided to go to Dugout , a terrace football cum cricket complex. At first , I thought they weren’t serious , but after coming to know what Harivignesh , a classmate of mine , said about it, I knew they all were planning on this.

Finally , a group photo , boys and girls united together !

If you happened to be stuck in home for nearly 15 months and did not experience going up three to four floors of the school staircase , it would be a hard ride since the mall was seven floors long ( the terrace was on the seventh floor). Well ,for me , that was kind of a warmup before I joined the boys in a game of football.(I was initially hesitant , as was my attitude to such a game ,but finally decided to give in and have some fun).

Football fever !

This took nearly an hour (2.40 to 3.40 pm) and after that , we gave our final goodbyes before the departure.

I then reunited with my family , who also dined in a resturant called Madhras , and we started for my home.

In reality , this was the best ever reunion I would have experienced in years.

Thank you !

The History Of Podcasts…

The humble podcast changed the audio mainstream , even before the introduction of the “video-sphere”. This month’s blog from my side , is all about the history of the podcast – how did it all begin , it’s evolution and the position it stands at today.

“Podcast” is a portmanteau, a combination of “iPod” and “broadcast”. The term “podcasting” was first suggested by The Guardian columnist and  journalist Ben Hammersley, who invented it in early February 2004 while writing an article for The Guardian newspaper. The term was first used in the audioblogging community in September 2004, when Danny Gregoire introduced it in a message to the “iPodder-dev” mailing list, from where it was adopted by Adam Curry.

So , let us get started….

The Early Days :

Before the advent of the World Wide Web, in the 1980s,RCS(Radio Computing Sites), provided music and talk-related software to radio stations in a digital format. Before online music digital distribution, the MIDI format as well as the MBone, Multicast Network was used to distribute audio and video files. The MBone was a multicast network over the Internet used primarily by educational and research institutes, but there were audio talk programs.Many other jukeboxes and websites in the mid-1990s provided a system for sorting and selecting music or audio files, talk, segue announcements of different digital formats. There were a few websites that provided audio subscription services as well.

From 2000’s : The RSS era.

In September 2000, the first system that enabled the selection, automatic downloading and storage of serial episodic audio content on PCs and portable devices was launched from early MP3 player manufacturer, i2Go.

In the October 2000, the concept of attaching sound and video files in RSS feeds was proposed in a draft by Tristan Louis.The idea was implemented by Dave Winer, a software developer and an author of the RSS format. Winer had received other customer requests for “audioblogging” features and had discussed the enclosure concept (also in October 2000) with  Curry, a user of Userland’s Manila and Radio blogging and RSS aggregator software.

By 2005 , podcast was named as the word of the year by New Oxford American Dictionary.he first DIY guide to podcasting, entitled Podcasting: Do-It-Yourself Guide, was published by Todd Cochrane, a broadcast producer who founded the business “Podcast Connect Inc.”.

2006 was the year when podcasts were first freed from the confines of every listener’s earbuds and presented before live audiences. To kick off the year, Steve Jobs instructed a live audience about how to create their own podcast using Apple’s free GarageBand software during a keynote address. Also , In October 2006, This American Life launched a podcast version of their popular radio show which, to this day, continues to be one of the most downloaded shows on the podcast charts.

In the year that followed, when 2007 zoomed into view, podcasts began earning recognition for the massive audiences they were accumulating. English comedian Ricky Gervais set the Guinness World Record for the most number of downloaded podcasts, with more than a quarter of a million downloads per episode. (This record would later be surpassed by Adam Carolla for his podcast The Adam Carolla Show, which achieved 59 million unique downloads.)

Listenership as well as popularity towards podcasts was increasing gradually , with almost 43% of Americans having knowledge of podcasts by 2005 by Edison Resarch and it kept rising till 2014.The number of monthly podcast listeners in America practically doubled in the five years after 2014, from around 39 million Americans to an estimated 90 million. In the five years preceding 2014, the same metric grew by only 35 percent.

The 2010’s (Till 2014):-

Remember the podcast This American Life which I mentioned before ? It had a subshow named Serial , hosted by Sarah Koenig as she reopened the case of a 1999 murder and built a rapport, over a series of telephone conversations, with the man who may or may not have been falsely imprisoned for it. For its innovative use of the podcast format and the captivating dynamic developed between Koenig and her interview subjects, Serial gripped the nation like no podcast had ever been capable of. It was the first podcast to be parodied on Saturday Night Live, it spawned an outpouring of other shows in the true crime genre, and it became the first podcast to win a Peabody Award. The years after Serial didn’t see the number of people listening to podcasts grow at a gradual or consistent pace—podcast listenership snowballed. 

Some watershed moments that followed 2014 included another U.S. president lending their voice to the medium with Barack Obama appearing as a guest on Marc Maron’s show, and The New York Times debuting The Daily, a podcast “designed to match the fast pace of modern news [that] features original reporting and recordings of the newspaper’s top stories.” 

In late 2017, Apple’s Podcast Analytics feature was launched, which confirmed that the listening stats behind podcasts were all that proponents were making it out to be. “On average,” the data revealed, “podcast listeners are making it through about 90 percent of a given episode, and relatively few are skipping through the ads.” 

All the data collected in the years afterward has shown that listeners concentrate more on podcasts than most other media they intake, and listeners are more receptive of ads delivered via podcast—very good signs that helped thrust the industry into the position it occupies today.

Beyond 2019 :

By 2019, it was reported that 165 million people had listened to a podcast, and 90 million Americans listened to a podcast monthly. This colossal interest in the medium signalled an inevitable shift that was bound to occur sooner or later: what Quah calls “the era of big podcasting.”

For years, Spotify had been battling neck-and-neck with Apple Music for audio share. After evolving into a reigning platform for music, the Swedish streaming service started to make a number of strategic business moves in an attempt to solidify themselves as the premier platform for podcasts as well. 

In 2019, Spotify acquired major podcast studio Gimlet Media, which is responsible for popular shows like StartUp, Reply All, and Crimetown. They also purchased podcast creation platform Anchor, and pod production company Parcast. 

During the COVID-19 pandemic , podcasts helped many people to recover from stress and uncertainity of the future and all sorts of problems. At a time when everyone was juggling housework and WFH, these made perfect sense as a means of keeping abreast of the latest audio shows as well as getting entertained. So much so that everyone, especially the younger generation, is hooked to them. Also , many people across the world , including those from India and USA , turned into podcasters , as they feel that it

The Future of Podcasting:-

So where do podcasts go from here? 

Quah prophesies that “we’re probably going to see a rapid acceleration of money — and further corporate interest — in the space, pulling the entire medium out of the relative fringes and deeper into the mainstream entertainment industrial complex.” 

By 2021, podcast ad revenue is projected to surpass the $1 billion mark. And although it may appear as if podcasting is hurtling toward a point where it’s swallowed up by media conglomerates, and the medium’s DIY origins are no longer recognizable, it’s worth remembering that podcasting is less than two decades old—still riding out its teenage years—and that there are inevitably many new eras speckling the horizon as this medium, like so many before it, changes alongside the times and grows into its own.

Thank you !

The History Of Videos…

In the digital era , most of online content is incomplete with the top three website “superchargers” : blogs , advertisements and most importantly , videos ! What are exactly videos , if I were to ask you all in a metaphorical sense ? Today , we all know that they are a combination of photographs , audio and even special effects. They have different meanings , if we were to look at them at a wider range. They can also mean output of a monitor , or even the content displayed on a screen.

Wanna binge watch with this thing , anyone ?

But , in this month’s blog , this will be a trip down the memory lane of the good and humble video – how did it begin , what were it’s applications , and also , it’s various meanings. So , without anymore delay , let’s switch them on and get started….

The Early Days :

Upto the early 18th – 19th centuries , all that we had as evidence of people’s daily lifestyles were merely written documents and photographs ( even painted portraits were well considered to be pictures at that time). Thanks to the invention of the camera in 1885 by George Eastman , it led to combination of new technologies of the 19th century (“Industrial Revolution”) which were pictures , motion capture , sound (after 1930’s) , BGM’s and a lot more (in the years to come), and later , the first films , “The Horse in Motion” and “Roundhay Garden Scene” in 1880’s , and finally , the birth of the cinema , by the Lumire brothers in 1895.

The evolution of the camera is said to be dated back to the 10th century , even though it’s modern version was invented in the 19th century.

The oldest survivng short silent film , Roundhay Garden Scene(1888)

From the 19th Century :

In the period between the 19th to the 20th century , many modifications were made : the film , television and entertainment industry was growing in fame and popularity , special moments were also being recorded and stored as memories for families , ( although in the early days , only the rich people could afford cameras , but as years passed , it became affordable) websites were being developed (that even includes the blogs which I mentioned in my previous blog post) , videos were also evolving into various categories , like soap operas , sitcoms , and a lot more- videos were weaving new kinds of magic , big and small. By the end of the 20th century , a lot has changed in the sense of videos.

The 21st Century :

Now , we can jump into the current century – the 21st century. This is where the epic saga of videos starts here – it began with the launch of online media platforms as well as streaming services , like YouTube ,Netflix , Amazon Prime , Disney+Hotstar , Hulu , Yupp TV , Roku , and tons of other such services. Even social media services , like Facebook and Twitter , have various options of recording videos – Live , Shorts and much more. There are also a wide array of catergories of videos – gaming videos , vlogs , streamings , webinars ,online meetings, polls , music videos , and the like.

The evolution of Music Videos , a genre of videos.

As time evolved , videos no longer remained the traditional “shot fresh from the camera” methodology. They can now be taken anywhere , through screen recordings of phones and desktops , and even through “spy cameras” , like pen and button cameras.

Speaking of spy cameras , videos , apart from photos and even top secret documents, are a faster method of evidence used by the police as well as the secret forces to catch criminals.

“Me at the Zoo” was the first video uploaded to Youtube in 2005 , by YouTube’s co-founder , Jawed Karim, which depicts him describing about elephants , while in the San Diego Zoo. It set the tone for the future of the “videosphere” in the years to come.

And guess what was the FIRST Indian video uploaded to Youtube ? It was the making of the Airtel Theme Song , composed by the legendary musician A.R.Rahman himself , uploaded in the year 2006.It was again uploaded by Airtel through it’s official channel in 2010.

The COVID-19 Pandemic Era :

Videos became the source of entertainment during the COVID-19 pandemic , with more and more people showcasing the talents in one form or the other , and even many events moving into online mode. This has boosted the revenue of the online space , which makes it clear that it will be the one which dominates the Internet. Video consultation about doubts regarding the pandemic to tutorials and DIY’s and even unboxing videos- the list goes on.

The Future :

There might not be much to diclose about the future of videos. With every passing day , more and more features and elements and even file formats for videos are being developed , and most of videos undergo checks to find out copyright violations . Also , instead of them being downloadable to the public , they remain online and download access is limited to the owner of the video in the case of online media platforms.

Videos also are becoming better and more entertaining, with more effects and graphics being developed and used. But , as they say , no matter how much it has evolved , we might as well as thank our ancestors from the 1880’s , who founded this medium , one day.

Thank you !

The History Of Blogging…

I usually blog a lot…..and why do I do that ? Because I want to showcase my talents and grow in fame ? Or I just take it as a casual activity , where I merely express my thoughts and ideas ? Maybe. The answer lies in both of them. My blogging site is the union of these two.

We know blogs are online diaries , which include the written content of people across the globe (known as bloggers), and meant to express our thoughts and feelings , to raise funds for noble causes and as well as promote any type of product (by companies). But how did it all begin ? And in what manner ? This is the thing I want to explore in this blog. So , without any further ado , let us dive into the topic.

Early Days :

The blogging era began in the 1990’s . But , before that ,  digital communities took many forms, including Usenet, commercial online services such as Genie , BiX and the early CompuServe , e-mail lists , and Bulletin Board Systems(BBS).

GEnie , an online service

Usenets Diagrams.

Compuserve , an American online service provider

It’s generally recognized that the first blog site was Links.net, created by Justin Hall, while he was a Swarthmore College student in 1994. However , he called it his personal homepage. It was then known as “weblog” by Jorn Barger in 1997, while it’s short form “blog” was was coined by  Peter Menholz , who jokingly broke the word weblog into the phrase we blog in the sidebar of his blog , Peterme.com in April or May 1999 (However ,  It’s not until five years later that Merriam-Webster declares the word their word of the year.). Shortly thereafter, Evan Wlliams at Pyra Labs used “blog” as both a noun and verb (“to blog,” meaning “to edit one’s weblog or to post to one’s weblog”) and devised the term “blogger” in connection with Pyra Labs’ Blogger product, (the site which was later acquired by Google inb 2003. It is largely responsible for bringing blogging to the mainstream) leading to the popularization of the terms.

A typical blog from a blog site in the 1990’s.

Blogging from 2000’s till 2010’s :-

Stepping into the 2000’s , that is when the blogging era reached it’s crescendo.  In 1999, according to a list compiled by Jesse James Garrett, there were merely 23 blogs on the internet. By the middle of 2006, there were 50 million blogs according to Technorati‘s State of the Blogosphere report.  It developed into various genres ranging from dining to politics and many prominent blogging sites like WordPress (the blogging site that I use) ,Boing Boing, Dooce, Gizmodo, Gawker, Wonkette, and the Huffington Post. Also , some peripheral services to the blogosphere also started in the early 2000s. Technorati, the first major blog search engine, was launched in 2002. Audioblogger, the first major podcasting service, was founded in 2003. The first video blogs started in 2004, more than a year before YouTube was founded.

Beyond that , the blogging market started to boom in millions. New bloggers started to come up , started making money and they rose to power in the “Blogosphere”. Also , the number of meta blogs skyrocketed. Bloggers like Darren Rowse (of Problogger.net and Digital-Photography-School.net) and John Chow made sizable amounts of money telling other bloggers how they could turn blogging into a full-time career.

The Microblogging Era :-

Then , suddenly ,there emerged a class of people who felt tired of normal blogging and wished for a change in the blogging mainstream. They managed to find solace in microblogging sites , like Facebook , Twitter , My space , Tumblr , Messenger , Instagram , Linkedin and Posterous. They allow a more traditional type of blogging experience, while also enabling the social networking features found in social media, which may include stories , photos , videos , feelings , memories as well as meeting rooms. The micro-blogging era was the hot trend of the beginning as well as the rest of the 2010’s . Through that , people who never had a way to express themselves with merely content could turn their focus to those sites . Also ,

• They tend to receive more social shares than traditional blog posts. This is due to the fact that social media users prefer small, easy-to-digest pieces of content as opposed to large content.
• It’s not uncommon for bloggers to spend hours, sometimes even days, creating new posts. Micro-blogging, however, allows bloggers to produce new content on the fly, in just a fraction of this time.
• Search engines love new content, and micro-blogging allows you to publish new content on a regular basis. Even if you have limited time to blog, you can still churn out some microblog posts every couple of days. 

The Future Of Blogging :

Eight to ten years ago, blogs were becoming the primary point of communication for individuals online. But with the advent of social media and social networking in the past five years, blogs have become only one portion of an individual’s online persona.

Vlogs and podcasts have also taken on a bigger role in the blogosphere, with a lot of bloggers opting to use primarily multimedia content. Services that cater to these kinds of posts (like Tumblr and Posterous) are likely to keep growing in popularity.

With new services like Quora coming onto the market, there’s the possibility that the blogosphere will shrink, and more people will turn to sites like these to get information. But services like Quora also provide valuable tools for bloggers, as they give insight into what people really want to know about a topic.

Blogs are unlikely to go anywhere in the foreseeable future. But there’s a lot of room for growth and innovation in method in which their content is found, delivered, and accessed.

Thank you !

The “Days of 2020” are back !

Well , who knows ? New lockdowns ,stricter curbs , cancellation of getaways and vacations ( another big loss to the tourism industry , by the way.) and stay-at-home orders- those are the signs that the “2020 Days” , as I call them , are back , once again , for real !

While the COVID-19 pandemic was raging in the first wave , discussions flared up about the second wave , then they died down . And again they were discussed , and again forgotten . As the cycle continued in the background , we came into 2021. Everything was about to get back to normal , when the second wave of cases began – What was 90,000 cases a day at the peak of the first wave , will rise to either 1,80,000 or 2,70,000 a day , or even more than that a day. All restrictions- related laws were re-imposed again in each and every country, including India.

Well , this gave me the chance to re-develop my blogging site ( and also , the one I am talking about now ), about a simple request – “stay home , stay safe”.

Well , this might seem to be an even bigger obstacle to accomplish , as people are preoccupied with “pandemic fatigue” ( the fatigue which occurs with more time devoted to keeping themselves safe at the cost of their life as well as their joys. It evolves gradually over time and is affected by the cultural, social, structural and legislative environment. ) , protest campaigns , “revenge shopping” , mental stress , and so on .

Do watch this video on how to prevent Pandemic Fatigue :

In order to be safe , we must avoid going out at any cost. But , this is where the problems creep in : Most of the goods are still bought physically by people , despite the development of e-commerce platforms . Some people still think that it is best to be safe than sorry . But , will they still be safe in the sense of physical shopping , dining and entertainment , when the world is heading towards a second wave of COVID-19 cases ? This question has an answer , which goes like this : All e-commerce platforms are now welcoming orders of essential items as well as non – essential items. There are everything for our comfort : food , comfort , gaming on Play stations ,Netflix and Amazon Prime for binge-watching , best-in-class gadgets and a lot more to your liking . We even have terraces , balconies and backyards which act as play areas , and also , kitchens are the hubs of nurturing the chef in us. The food cooked in homes is way better than visiting the restaurants and risking the contraction of the virus.

So , how can we even have the heart to say that our houses are not exciting to live in when they have everything we wish for ? Well , when life was normal , weekends to people meant the time , to go and chill out , travelling and indulging yourself to doses of entertainment in one form or the other. This habit was so pre-occupied in our heads that it took a long time for us to adjust to the “new normal” life , and in turn , the surge in cases.

However , what I feel is that the corona-virus pandemic is just another major pandemic , and not the first of all pandemics to strike the world. We have already seen many virus epidemics as well as wars in different countries and at the global level, and we learnt lessons from them. At the same time , we too must learn to have the determination , courage as well as the willpower to fight with the virus .

Therefore , follow these three simple rules :

1. Wash your hands with soap and water for at least 40 seconds.
2. Use masks of either cotton or N95 or surgical disposable type.
3. Maintain six feet distance between each other to minimise risk of contracting the virus.

Thank you !

Covid 19: Transformation in Learning – A Student’s Perspective….

Let us start with life before 2020. What was happening back then? It was breezing in the world of school – a building which is far away from home, no stress over technology, fun and freedom with friends as well as the classes and useful debates and physical activity classes (with sports) that the teachers conduct over the years. I , as  a student myself , have experienced this over the course of the 2000’s and the 2010’s – all physical , less mechanical and loads of fun and memories to cherish.

But, in 2020, at a time when schools get ready to cherish another year of this stuff, there came our spoilsport- the very much dreaded COVID 19 virus, as well as the pandemic that was caused by its arrival. So, what is the solution to avoid the students from contracting the virus? Simple: Shut down schools, impose lockdowns and curfews and provide online support to them – ranging from learning material to help and assistance for them. However, as time passed, it seemed like a Herculean task to achieve, due to audio and video problems, outside disturbances and protests from family members and friends about the fact that students are spending long hours sitting in front of the screens , thus , gaining weight , facing an increase of eye power and back pain as well as feeling withdrawn in online classes (assumptions that they may lose connection if they must answer a question or ask doubts , only few students participate in debates and activities and much more).

But, in my case, I was able to adjust with any type of classroom, be it physical or digital, to a very large extent. During my days of virtual classrooms, the only problems I faced were few- losing Wi-Fi connections, audio problems, etc. That’s what they say: “Take things into your head, one at a time.” That can be easily explained for the case of those students who are getting used to all sorts of technology which was offered to us for use in our daily lives, but that’s not a problem in the case of tech-savvy kids like me, as I could adjust to the technology of virtual classrooms and the various homeworks, portfolios, multiple assessments and projects of my school, though I need extended support for certain things for some cases.

I, however, strongly feel that the charm provided as a result of projects executed by students, debates, activities, face-to-face interaction with fellow classmates and teachers, and a lot more, can be seriously achieved only when students are seated in physical classrooms of those buildings called “schools”. So, why did I mention that? That is because, from my 13 years of school life, I feel the same thing the world is also thinking:  With students in a physical school, it will help students like me to shed their fears with teachers and gain confidence by interacting with them, clearing doubts, lending friends a helping hand, and what not! – The possibilities are endless!

With the inception of COVID-19, it has brought out a great change in my life – reduced syllabus and portion, more holidays to prepare for online as well as offline exams, and as the online classes are on-the-go, I can attend them from not just computers, but also phones as well (which made it easy for visits to my native areas once the lockdown restrictions lifted). Okay, this was fine, but now for some schools, they started holding offline classes for higher standards, as they have Board exams, and in order to gain confidence over writing them in exam centers, proper offline class-like training has to be given to them, including holding revision exams and recapitulating concepts from textbooks, along with the time given to students for doubt-clearing about the concepts with the teachers before proceeding further, while the other standards stayed on with their virtual classes.

Therefore, the new future of education can be told in just two words- HYBRID LEARNING, a “next-gen” approach towards education which combines online educational materials and opportunities for interaction online with traditional place-based classroom methods.

All that I can only tell is that with the inception of virtual classrooms, it has brought a major change in the lifestyle of students like me: I can now apply all my tech-savvy skills, especially as a team member, even during the preparation of group projects, with my team-mates. As they say, “Do not judge a book by it’s cover”, this learning method can be fully applied to online learning with a mix of brick-and-mortar and chalk-and-talk teaching methods. Well, this is the only one I can tell. What about the rest? Only time will tell, what fruits will be borne, as a result of this so-called “surprise in disguise”.

Learning, as many philosophers say, is infact, the first and foremost step in not just the concepts in our lessons , the phenomenons that occur in our daily lives as well. If that is inculcated as a practice in many of our daily lives , it will be easy to make use of in our daily lives.

To sum it up, I can say this: Anyone who stops learning, whether at the age of twenty or eighty, is old. Anyone, who however, continues to learn on and on without stopping, is young.

Thank you!!!

WordPress now supports podcasts as well !

You might think I am joking , but I am serious about that fact.Anchor , a podcasting site by the music franchise , Spotify , has announced this recently.

A WordPress website offers a centralized place for new and existing followers to find you and engage with your content. It’s never been easier to create a hub for curating and sharing podcasts, images, videos, merchandise, social media feeds, and more. Your WordPress.com site is fully customizable down to the font, color scheme, and layout—and you can add podcast episodes to your site in one click.

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As part of this partnership, WordPress.com bloggers can now import existing and new text-based content into Anchor. To make this process as easy as possible, Anchor and WordPress.com have included text-to-speech technology that lets creators automatically convert their content into draft podcast episodes. Of course, creators always have the option to record a reading of the content in their own voice, if they prefer.

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Some WordPress.com features we think you’ll find particularly useful include a custom domain (e.g., yourpodcastname.com), email marketing, easy podcast, video, and image embedding. You’ll also get streamlined payment features so you can sell merchandise, charge for newsletter subscriptions, take donations, and more.

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Don’t have a website yet or want to create a new one to complement your podcast? Build this core component of your digital brand on WordPress.com—and don’t forget to embed your Anchor podcasts into any page or post of your site!

Get started by heading over to your Anchor dashboard and clicking the WordPress.com image.