Like the Flowing River

Happy Diwali

2011-10-25T07:02:00.000-07:00

Subho Bijaya

2011-10-18T02:12:00.000-07:00

UX case study developed by me

2011-09-01T22:58:00.000-07:00

Problem : Facebook status update is confusing , as user can update status in various way including photo video, How to simplify the interaction?

Research on Facebook Power users to identify the audience and their core behaviour towards the site

Purpose: To conduct a research through the various online research channels.
Objective: To identify the behaviour pattern.
Agenda: Identifying audience through a demographic and physiographic research.
Deliverable: report

Facebook is the second most popular site in the world according to the three-month Alexa traffic rankings. This site's audience tends to be users who browse from school and home they are also disproportionately women under the age of 45 who have postgraduate educations.

Here I have listed few statistical charts audited by Alexa websites. http://www.alexa.com/siteinfo/facebook.com#

Audience Demographics for Facebook.com

Now if we can closely monitor the statistics produced be the Alexa website we can conclude the power user of face book comes from the School, following by the graduate schools, which mostly fall under 25-34 years of age group, people browsing from the school is over represented in facebook and interesting fact is among this group female audience are significantly large.

Audience breakdown by income, ethnicity, age, education, gender, children and browsing location and their browsing pattern

From the above screen it is observed that the power user of facebook is keener on the community and to show off the personality.

If I may quote John Gray the famous relationship expert from the USA from his book “Men are From Mars, Women are From Venus”, ‘Men Go to Their Caves and Women Talk’ we can surely differentiate women are more expressive than the men who just want to talk even if there is nothing to talk about. Women want to share their problems with their dear ones and seek their support and help. They often talk to the communities relating to their thoughts, ideas simply they love share, express and to show off. They long for appreciation, respect, love and care. So from the above audience demographic report we may choose to conduct interviews with the women from the different categories, and we may have one School Girl, College girl, housewife under 34 years and a working woman (who doesn’t have much time to socialize). We will also have a male graduate student and a passed out intern who can also add certain value to throw some light into it.

Survey
Purpose: The survey asked participants to complete the questionnaire regarding their Facebook sage.
Objective: It will help us to identify the behaviour, interaction and mental models of a participant toward the status update feature.
Agenda: Identifying interaction nature of an user
Deliverable: Survey report

Participant: - 1

Q1. On average, how long do you spend on Face book per week?
ANS.

	1 - (just under) 2 hours

	1 - (just under) 2 hours
	2 - (just under) 3 hours
	3 - (just under) 4 hours
	4 hours or more

Q2. How important do you feel the ‘facebook Status Update Feature’
ANS.

	Not Important

	Important
	Very Important

Q3. How important do you feel the ‘facebook Status Update Feature’
ANS.

	Not Important

	Important
	Very Important

Rationale: If I am on the top of a hill and watching sunrise at ‘Kanchenjunga Mountain’, I will defiantly look forward to take a snap of it and update through a mobile device.

If I am socializing with a celebrity in a party I would be upload a video with it.

Q4. Do you feel uploading photos and videos with the Status updating causes confusion?
ANS.

	Yes
	No
	Not sure but I would like to state what I feel

Rationale: I would be happy if I can see a write up stating ‘attach video with the message’ or add a photo , may be iconic representation of video and photo would be good for me.

I would also recommend if a help balloon can be produced instead of a write up, so that people can avoid reading and comprehend through the visual representation.

Conclusion

Many popular social networking services, such as Facebook and Twitter, enable users to write a brief status message, which is then visible to their connections on the network. For example, Facebook‟s status message can be up to 423 characters long; the prompt “What‟s on your mind?” encourages the user to fill in the status box. I have conducted a survey to explore the ways in which people use status messages to ask questions of their social networks. The findings should be interpreted in light of possible biases introduced by the demographic of the survey population.

Persona

User: Anatara the Student, Govt. College of Art, Applied Art

Background: Antara is an art student specializing in applied art. She uses a computer, but she's an artist by trade and not so computer-savvy. A computer is just another tool for getting her artefact tasks done.

Key goals: Being a designer it is extremely important for her to build a network of her own with the people from different country, different perspective. Every time she wants to update with a post, she feels she should add a thumbnail of her work associating with the text, or to upload a video of her workshop days. But she wants the people to understand the essence of her update without any confusion.

A usage scenario: At the start of everyday she would update her status with an illustration sharing with her friends, networks through the face book status update, and then she would go to the college and meet other friend. There will be interesting campus work which she sometime records through her mobile phone. That’s one of her favourite things because she felt every work has its own distinction from the process perspective and if that can be shared and further developed. On a good day she tried to upload the video she recorded through the face book. First she updates the text then added the video. Surprisingly her friends could not relate the message with video and got confused.

She realizes the pitfall immediately and wished if there is something which makes the system simplified to a further.

About the persona: The persona describes the user's goals and some of the interaction. It's not too specific in describing the actual UI because that will be created later. The goal is to understand important tasks in the UI and the user's motivations. The intention here is to understand what a specific, representative, user wants to do and what doing the task would be like.

The Design

(A note on psychological manifestations and the psychology behind Facebook and its use.
Through a psychographic study it is observed greater use of Facebook was associated with feeling closer to and more satisfied with friends . Shy students are heavier users of Facebook reported the same levels of loneliness as their shy peers who didn't use the service so much. So adding mood may help them to manifest something which they might struggle with purely face-to-face relationships. They think that if their data had been collected over time, it would likely have shown that greater Facebook use led to reduced loneliness. Mental and emotional issues associated to and resulting from user habits they are The Curiosity Factor/ The Boredom Variable/ The Ache to Belong/ The Loneliness Phenomenon. Therefore adding mood to the status update in my design has arrived.)

UX Design in a nutshell

2011-08-31T00:12:00.000-07:00

Today, project roles are loosely defined because many project teams are small in scale. That’s the reason I guess a UX designer (comprises of Information Architect, Marketing & client servicing person, Visulaizer, Interface designer, Usabilty Analyst, SEO&SMO Consultant) can play a significant roll. What makes the role of the UX Designer even more challenging is that there exists a sort of “brand preemption” online—users begins to with a number of expectations for products and services they use online. This means that not only does a UX Designer have to ensure a consistent and quality experience; they have to appeal to their users sensibilities. All in all, there are plenty of responsibilities to go around when it comes to UX direction on a project.

Now I am putting my thoughts down with some core elements of User Experience Designing, whatever small idea I have on the subject I am trying to define them so in case anybody is looking forward to grasping the concept and by chance landed to my blog therefore find it simple and stupid.

Analyse the Opportunity (Business & users)

Identifying the stakeholders / Create the UX visions / Segment the market /

Here the job is to

Research

Heuristic research on behavioural and attitudinal
Ethnography field study – Psychographics & Demographic through Qualitative and quantitative methods (Eytracting ,focus group, phone message board mining , participatory design, survey etc)
Usability lab Studies
User survey

Build the context to use

Build environment Profile, identify Red Route
Scenario mapping, Use case, content map, content inventories,

Create User Experience

Information Architecture

Grouping and Labelling
Storyboard work flow
Card Sorting
Affinity Diagram
Error placement
User assistance
Grouping and Card Sorting
Page information hierarchy
Form Deigning and Flow
Functional Inventory
Use of UI Library components
Wire framing

Brand Salience

User Goal
Story board
Persona
Concept Map
Lay out
Evolution and testing
Key performance Indicating
Defining Style Guide

Therefore according to me the essential skill set of UX Designer could be the followings

Deep Understanding of Human Psychology & Research Methods
Competence in the Basics of Graphic Design and Visualization
Awareness of and Interest in Technology
Verbal & Visual Communication Skills
Ability to Quickly Learn a Subject Matter Area
Creativity, Passion & Vision
Mediation, Facilitation, & Translation Skills

Homage to Benoy Sarkar, one of the leading graphic designer of country

2011-07-16T22:02:00.000-07:00

Yesterday renowned Graphic Designer , Shri Binoy Sarkar passed away. But he left with his unlimited creations, for this world which would inspire the upcoming and promising graphic designers for many years.

Sri Sarkar is an alumni of Yale university, USA and was associated with the National Institute of Design for many years. Later on he joined the Handicrafts and Handloom Export Corporation of India and contributed significantly to a large number of projects and exhibitions all over the world. Shri Sarkar has also to his credit designing of such striking logos as of the Indian Airlines, ECIL, Airports Authority of India, Trade Fair Authority of India (Now the ITPO),Delhi Transport Corporation (DTC) to name a few.

His has left her wife Mira Sarakar, who is also a renowned artist and working at American Embassy as a teacher. Binoy Sarkar is no more, but his Legacy will continue to shape the design Industry. As he was my maternal uncle , I inheritate some of his skills and flare for art and started my career as a graphic designer.

Graphic Designers are always forgotten hero as seen for many years, but your work and contribution will not be forgotten Mejomama. May this post will help the audience and fraternity to see your work and embraced them.

Look who's tweeting: yes, it is Grandmaster Surya Shekar Ganguly

2011-02-11T03:25:00.000-08:00

Yesterday Calcutta has witnessed another eventful day. The son of its soil, the chess prodigy Grandmaster Surya Shekar Ganguly arranged a grand wedding reception at City Centre Hall.Many eminent personalities, media people gathered at the city centre hall to wish him happily ever after with Sudeshna, who is pursuing a PhD in nanoscience.

Among the invitees were Railways minister Mamata Banerjee , Kolkata Commissioner of Police Gautam Mohan Chakraborty, World Chess Champion Viswanathan Anand , Grandmaster Dibyendyu Barual, Deep Sengupta, Sports personality PK Bannerjee and many others.

Surya Shekhar can also be found at Twitter, (http://twitter.com/GMSuryaganguly) the account has been created recently while he was tying the knot with Sudeshna.

I have the opportunity to watch the event closely, being his relative and I took some of the snaps, which i hope would be liked by everyone.

Common Website Usability Checklist

2011-01-06T04:17:00.000-08:00

Common Website Usability Checklist

Navigation

Ensure a clear indication of the current location in website using bread crumb, heading.
All major parts of the site should be accessible from the Home page
Ensure a site map is always available if possible create an xml site map.
Make sure the site structure is simple, with no unnecessary levels
If necessary, an easy-to-use Search function should be implemented in the website.

Layout

The layout should be clear
Make sure there is sufficient ‘white space’
All images have ALT text assigned
Unnecessary animation has to be avoided

Consistency

Only one word or term should be used to describe any item
Links should match titles of the pages to which they refer
Standard colours are used for links and visited links
Ensure General for web usage

Functionality

All functionality is clearly labelled
All necessary functionality is available without leaving the site

User Control

There should be a clear exit point on every page
Page size is less than 50Kb/page
All graphic links are also available as text links
The site supports the user’s workflow
All appropriate browsers are supported
Online help should available
Users are informed if a plug-in or browser version is required

Error prevention

Errors do not occur unnecessarily
Error messages should be written in plain language
Error messages should describe what action is necessary
Error messages should always provide a clear exit point
Error messages should provide contact details for further assistance

Emailer Checklist

2011-01-06T01:54:00.000-08:00

There was time when we are often asked to create a mailer without any prior notice. At that time we felt we all are just hapless victims of a system as we didn’t have any clue how to get the job done. So I did put my research and a found good document which enclosed here. I wish I have the link with me.

E mailer Checklist

Once upon a time there was a creature, which has a beautiful golden skin with black stripe, considered the mightiest animal on the soil of earth

2010-12-30T04:08:00.000-08:00

Once upon a time there was a creature, which has a beautiful golden skin with black stripe, it was considered the mightiest animal on the soil of earth and it called Tiger.

The days are not very far from us when story teller will start like that

A shocking brief:-

Just 3,000 to 3,500 wild tigers, including about 1,000 breeding females are still alive
Today, according to data from the black market database Havocscope, tiger skins sold for up to as much as $35,000.
39 Tiger were killed in India last year, 32 in 2009, India shines !!!

We all should visit the following link and express our voices rather raise our voices.

http://blogs.nationalgeographic.com/blogs/news/chiefeditor/2010/09/a-last-stand-for-tigers.html

Things one should do while working on website (Checklist of 'website must haves')

2010-12-22T03:08:00.000-08:00

Back in 2000 when I started designing websites, we don’t have many things to do apart from creating a nice template and to htmlized it simply. But things have changed, now we have many things to watch out, accessibility, usability, creating content which allures, implementing Meta tags, ranking, cms, xhtmlization apps so much h of the jargons, the list will go on.

But being a novice who doesn’t have much to do with technicalities what are the important parts we should check immediately after launching a Website. They can be divided by two parts, first to check accessibility factor s inside the site, which largely entail the followings

Meta Tags

What is Meta tag and why do we need it. One can get thousands of literature on it in the web but in a nutshell we need to do the following

We need to provide the http-equiv, language, description and keywords Meta tags in the element on your page.

http-equiv meta tag

It is by far the most important Meta tags among the others. Used in conjunction with the DOCTYPE (XHTML 1.1), it helps the browser display your page correctly.

How to do it?

The language meta tag

It is a standard practise to include on every page although it is important for non English websites

Description and keywords Meta tags are important for accessibility than to meet standards because they are commonly used by screen readers. A lot of Search Engines rely on the description text for keywords on how and where to index (cache) your page.

If you are utilizing the description meta, each page in your site should have its own unique description text.

Keywords

Other meta tags

Tag for Robots and Crawlers

There are variations

1. will instruct the robot to include the current page in its index (cache) and follow all links to include them as well.

2. will instruct the robot to not include the current page in its index (cache) but follow all links.

3. instructs the robot to include the current page in its cache, but do not follow any links.

4. instructs the robot to not include current page or any of the linked pages in its cache

Things You Should Do

You need to create Web files that improves website accessibility

They are robots.txt, favicon.ico, sitemap.xml, dublin.rdf and opensearch.xml.
Create a Sitemap.xml File and a Robots.txt File
Setting up web Analytics
Google Webmaster Tools set up
Set Up Google Alerts
Your Website’s Uptime
Site’s Speed checking

I will discuss in details on the above mentioned item in a other post.

Sources :

http://sixrevisions.com/website-management/things-you-should-do-immediately-after-launching-a-website/

http://sixrevisions.com/web-standards/5-web-files-that-will-improve-your-website/

http://www.smashingmagazine.com/2009/06/18/10-ways-to-make-your-site-accessible-using-web-standards/

Website Strategy

2010-08-16T22:45:00.000-07:00

Website Strategy (http://slidesha.re/ejlemN)This presentation was created for the clients whom I dealt with. I tried to help them in a way so that they can see the potential hidden under the soft skin of websites as it is no longer just a public face online. There could be thousands of such topics available at the net, but being a player of this field I indulge myself to publish it. I gathered all those pieces of helpful information I came across over a period of time, throughout my journey of eleven years and created it. Hopefully it would be liked by the audiences I am associated with.

Bengali Movie Gandu selected for the South Asian International Film Festival

2010-08-16T19:57:00.000-07:00

Recently I have been told about a Bengali Movie called Gandu (pretty awkward name though) by one of my friend who himself is in the film fraternity. He has sent me a youtube link of the movie trailer on the other day. You won’t be able to see this in You Tube as it has been removed from there due to terms of use violation.

The trailer contains scenes of violence, coarse language and nudity and therefore has been censored. I am not sure what exactly constitute obscenity but anyway that is debatable an I don’t want to be a part of any debate right now.

I have embedded the movie clip in my blog as I believe audience must have the rights to decide by their own. The trailer below shows a clip of the flick

The Cinematography is good compared to other Bengali Movies so as the composition, treatment and other artistic attributes. Most part of the movie is in black and white print which creates special emotions towards the movie. However the story line is seems to be not much impressive.

However I have heard and read that the movie basically combines bengali rap music, porn scenes, petty crime, masturbation, and sex. It has already been selected for the South Asian International Film Festival in New York..

The Movie is directed by Quashik Mukherjee, who prefers to be known as Q .

Bengal wins Sontosh trophy for thirtieth times, beating Punjab two goals two one.

2010-08-08T09:32:00.001-07:00

Bengal wins Sontosh trophy for thirtieth times, beating Punjab two goals two one. I have seen them playing brilliant piece of football today in the final. This is the time we should talk about our football rather than cricket which is never quite a popular game in the world. Bengal always produces quality football in the past and we observed how they have raised Indian football once. During the time of Chuni Goswami, PK Banerjee they had lifted Asian games gold beating strong teams like Japan, South Korea. India beat Asian giants South Korea 2-1 in Asian Games finals in 1964, they finished 4th in 1956 Olympics Games, India started off 1970 with a Bronze medal in 1970 Asian Games beating Japan 1-0 in third place play-off, Then in 1984 India made an impressive 0-0 draw against strong Iranian side.

But then it was all cricket, one of the slow games of world, and football began to be neglected. Today a footballer in local clubs, if he is not among the stars, gets only 1lak in a year and not even a healthy two times meal compared to the billions rupees spend against a cricket player. Football is a far more superior game than cricket, it is exiting, it requires more physical strength and athletic skills and therefore more money is required.

Today I have seen a good bit of passing game, speed among the footballers; it should be eye opener to all of us. We should come forward and do something for the football, like Forlan (who helped Uruguay to reach semi final in the world cup) I also believe our footballers have the talents, skills but they lack stamina, support and a proper infrastructure. Let’s stand beside them, help them to make us proud once again.

The Clear Stream of Reason

2010-06-02T02:36:00.000-07:00

Democracy in India is dead. Our forefathers had dreamt of a nation ‘where the mind is without fear and the head is held high’ but sixty-three years from that momentous midnight hour, did we indeed redeem our pledge substantially? We should allow the question to echo in our minds until it resounds in the very ‘depths of truth’; until it is apparent that our ‘tryst with destiny’ is turning out to be a misadventure. It’s a desert where even the seeds of democracy cannot be sown and yet, brigands in the guise of friends try to conjure visions of it bearing fruit.

Polling seasons come and go and we find ourselves perpetually trapped between the horns of a dilemma. We are unsure of whether we should exercise our voting rights or not. The candidates are mostly Cipolla’s bandits, unsuitable, not only to run for public offices but even for jobs that solicit a trivial sense of integrity; yet there is always a pressure from political agencies to go and cast our votes. Democracy cannot survive in a situation where there is such a pervasive lack of awareness. All logic leads us to believe that the system will inevitably fail in a situation where equal value is assigned to votes cast by individuals with unequal awareness levels, more so when unaware people significantly outnumber aware individuals. Democracy is bound to fail in a situation where a fundamental facet of the process, free and fair polling, has to be enforced with intimidation by the state. Are we even ready for democracy?

To say that average awareness levels in our nation are appalling would be a euphemism. This is no exaggeration considering the fact that in some tribal areas, adults pierce the bellies of three to five year old children with hot iron rods believing that this would rid them of worm infestation and honor killings and witch hunts are a common occurrence. It’s not just the remote or impoverished regions, even literate folk in urban areas have alarmingly low levels of awareness. The predominance of yellow journalism is a case in point.

Would it be unfair to anyone or against the principles of equality and freedom to give unequal value to individual votes as long as the identity of the individual is not revealed or the values assigned to individual votes are not made public and the process unbiased and automated?

Analysis will reveal that it would be beneficial for a nation like ours as it will ensure better governance which in turn will ensure equality, freedom and ultimately pave the path for true democracy where all individuals reside above an acceptable threshold of consciousness and everyone can have equal voting rights without being detrimental to the tenets of the democratic system. The clear stream of reason will then not loose ‘its way into the dreary desert sand of dead habit’.

The Letter "Z" Will Be Removed from the English Alphabet!!!!!

2010-05-26T07:03:00.000-07:00

In today’s fast paced world people are desperate to grab attention of the audience by hook or by crook. Believe it or not they can go to any extent to popularize themselves by producing misleading information, false promises, and manipulative photos and with so many other things through various channels. They write blogs , post articles, send mails (mail bombing) and do every other thing that come across their way.

Today I had such an experience when I received a mail saying ‘Z’ will be removed from the English Alphabet. Yes I am sure many of you have already seen this before but I wonder how many of us have really taken a step forward to stop such disruptive spam. I am writing this post, carrying a great hope in my heart that this post would inspire many bloggers to write against it and publish them through various social channels. It is required, trust me, its time to set the ball rolling.

Now the source is ‘ http://www.dailywritingtips.com/the-letter-z-will-be-removed-from-the-english-alphabet/’

(The funniest part: English Language Central Commission (ELCC) does not even exist)

The fact is it was started as April Fools day prank and circulated to the millions to make the above blog popular. And honestly it drove large volumes of traffic to the blog. Read on.

http://www.hoax-slayer.com/letter-z-removal-hoax.shtml

শুভ নববর্ষ (shubho Noboborsho, happy bengali new year)

2010-04-16T21:57:00.000-07:00

সকাল বেলায় ডাকছে বসে হলুদ রঙের পাখি

উচ্চৈস্বরে সুপ্রভাত বলছে ডাকি ডাকি

তোপসে ভাজ , ভেটকি ভাজ , কাঁচা লঙ্কা চিরে ,

সঙ্গে কিন্তু থাকা চাই হলুদ লংকা জিরে |

শেষ পাতে তে রাখতে পার রস্সগোল্লা পায়েশ ,

নববর্ষের কলাপাতায় ভুরিভোজ আর আয়েশ ||

আয়েশ করে দুপুর বেলায় বাংলা কাগজ খুলে

ভেবে দেখো কবে গিয়েছ বাংলা পরা ভুলে

fm খুলে শোনোই না, মিষ্টি বাংলা গান

একটা দিনে স্বদেশ না হয় ভরিয়ে তুলুক প্রাণ ||

ক্ষনার পাঁচালি Khanar Panchali

2010-04-16T11:53:00.000-07:00

Well it just like I am getting momentum inside me. I have posted some rhymes in my earlier post now I have a feeling like I would post one again. This one was written for the campaign that was planned to air sometime near June 2009 by the organizers of India Health Show. Our office had a part to play in it since we had commissioned for the online and offline campaign which once again expected to escalate the event as an immerging brand.

We have decided ‘Khana’ would be the brand persona instead of Dhanvantari the medical man because of its Bengali origin. Dhanvantari the father of ayurveda was replaced with Khana the famous astrologer and daughter in law of Varahamihir another gem in Vikramaditya's court in Ujjain not only because it is hard that they hailed from south Bengal but also rural people trust on word of mouth instead of logic.

Anyway I have created a panchali which is much popular in the common domicile of rural Bengal and named it Khanar Panchali.

Spellings are requested to be ignored as I found it hard to convert .

শোনো শোনো গ্রামবাসী , শোনো দিয়া মন

শাস্ত্রমতে স্বাস্থ্যকথা করিবে বর্ণন

কে করিবে বলি শোনো, নাম তার ক্ষনা

জগত জুড়ে বচন তার জানে পাঁচজনা |

স্বাস্থ্য চিনতা, স্বাস্থ্য - শিক্ষা বিচিত্র এক পাট,

এ বিষয়ে ক্ষনা দিদির বিস্তর ঠাট - বাট|

ঘরের পাশে ইতস্তত জমে যদি জল ,

জেনে রেখো মশার জালায় হবেই চঞ্চল |

তুচ্ছ করি হের নাহি , মশার হুলখানি,

Maleria র সূত্রপাত এখানেই জানি |

মালেরিয়ায় কষ্ট বড় রয়েছে প্রবল ক্লেশ,

সঙ্গে আছে ওষুধ-বিশুধ চিনতার নাহি শেষ |

ক্ষনার বচন অকাট্য ,শোনো মহাশয়

স্বাস্থ্য-ই সম্পদ কোরো নাহি ক্ষয় ||

ছড়ারা সব

2010-04-15T05:11:00.000-07:00

My friends are my big source of inspiration. One of them has inspired me to post this blog , Actually it was him who kept browsing the scraps which I often left for my friends in different social networking sites and he found some scraps in form of Bengali rhyme scattered elsewhere. He suggested me to put them together and post them in my blog without isolating them. So here they goes …

Monideepake

বৃষ্টি শেষে চাঁদের দেশে,হলুদ রঙের গান

রোদ্দুরের হাসিখানি জুড়িয়ে দেয় প্রাণ |

কান্ভাসেরা সংসারী সব বুক দুরু দুরু ,

সিঁদুর পরে বনলতার যাত্রা হলো শুরু |

Shormike

কু ঝিক ঝিক ট্রেন চলেছে , কোথায় কোন দেশে

কেউ জানেনা সেই কথাটা কি আছে যে শেষে

সেই কথাটা থাকুক তোলা, কোথায় গেলি বল ?

তার চেয়ে বরং সবাই মিলে হারিয়ে যাই চল |

'হারিয়ে যাওয়ায় নেই মানা ' বলেছিলেন রবি

আমরা সব উলুখগরা তিনি হলেন গে কবি |

দেখ দেকি তাই কোথাও আমার হয়না বিশেষ যাওয়া,

ঘড়ের ভেতর নেট হাতরে অচেনা কে পাওয়া |

সেসব ছাড়, পারছিনা আর চাপতে কৌতুহল

ট্রেন এ চেপে সবাই তোরা কোথায় গেলি বল ?

Shonkhoke

লামি বাবার সৃষ্টি রসের মোটেই বিরাম নেই

সব বাবারা দিনে দুবার প্রনাম ঠোকে তাই

আমি বাবাটা বেচারা , কেমন যে এক ধারা ,

তাইত আমার গিন্নি আমায় বলে সৃষ্টি ছাড়া

হটাত যে কেমন করে দেখলে এহেন কর্ম

চোখ টি তুলে সুধায়ে দিলেন পিতা হবার ধর্ম |

বললে আরো আমি নাকি নিতান্তই মূর

শুনে আমি তথৈবচ , কিংকর্তব্য বিমূর |

নাক মুলেছি , কান মুলেছি এসেছি তোর কাছে ,

বলতো দেখি পিত্রিধর্মের tips কি কি আছে ?

Arunke

কোথায় গেলে পাব তোমায় বন্ধু আমার কাছে ?

ঠিকানা কিন্তু চাইনি আমি ঠিকানা আমার আছে |

সাত স্তাতটা সাগর পেরিয়ে ছুটতে পারে মন

বুকে যে চেয়ে থাকে , সে এক অন্যজন |

কোন সে রাতে বসেছিলাম মদ নিয়ে সাথে

সেই স্মৃতিরা ভেসে বেড়ায় বৃষ্টি ভেজা রাতে |

রাত ফুরোলেই উড়ে যাবে মাতাল আমার মনটা

মদের ঘোর না স্মৃতির জোর বলতো সত্যি কোনটা ?

Chondobani clubke

কবি নই ছবি সাজাই, বেদম হয় কষ্ট ,

লোকে রটায় IT তে সময় করি নষ্ট |

সৃস্টিসুখের উল্লাস দিয়েছি জলাঞ্জলি ,

'সংসারে সবচেয়ে বড় টাকার ওই থলি '|

যাই হোক কিনা, এ ক্লাবের বাণী বেশ মধুর ,

গন্নি- মান্নি বাক্তিদের গুরুগম্ভীর সুর |

মাঝেমধ্যে মনে হয় ছন্দের এই রেশ ,

ধরতে পারলে মন্দ কি , ভালই হয় বেশ |

কি আর বলি , এই জীবনে বাড়ছে সুধুই স্ট্রেস ,

'বাজে কথায় কান দেবেন না টাকাই হলো শেষ '|

কাজ ফুরোলে রাত্তির হলে মনটা হয় ভারী ,

শেষ মেষ তাই ঠিক করলাম দু এক কলি ছাড়ি,

লিখে ফেললাম ক এক লাইন আনাড়ি খাপছাড়া ,

ক্ষমা করবেন বেয়াদপি এই নিজগুনে আপনারা ||

Jonoikake

চোখের কোলে দু এক পশলা ঢালতে পারি রঙ,

বোলো না দেখো , মুখ বেঁকিয়ে এ আবার কি ঢং|

হাসি দেখে বলি যদি মোনালিসা smile

আওআজ তুমি মারবেই ঠিক , পুরনো তোমার style

দিনকাল যা পড়েছে, প্রেমিক হওয়া ই দায়

মন খুলে বুকের কথা obsolete প্রায় |

time নেই দাদা এবার ঝেড়ে কেশে ছাড়,

আকাশ , বাতাস , চাঁদ , পাহাড় হাজাস না আর |

দেশে এখন হট বলতে ওই digital flirt ,

চাপ আছে , শিখতে হবে social এই আর্ট |

তাই বলছি যদি থাকো কোনো backdated partner ,

তস্সর চলে এস , তোমাদের কেই দরকার ,

এই ব্লগ টায় সবাই মিলে আওআজ তুলে যাই ,

digital flirt এর যুগে সাচ্ছা প্রেমিক চাই ||

Jonoikake

আয় বৃষ্টি ঝেপে এবার নামার সময় হলো

আকাশের চোখের কোলে বড্ড যেন কালো |

আয় বৃষ্টি ঝেপে এবার সপাটে মার আঁচর ,

জলের ছাঁটে ছিটিয়ে দে ,মেঘের কালো চাদর |

আয় বৃষ্টি ঝেপে এখন ভিসন বেশি গুমোট

আমার দেশে কাঁপছে বসে মন খারাপের ঠোঁট

আয় বৃষ্টি আসবি বলে বসে আছে রামধনু

ভীকুক হৃদয় আমার পেতেছে তার জানু |

দু এক পশলা রঙ ঢেলে দে আমার ঘরময়

বুকের ভেতর হৃদয় এ হোক নতুন সূর্যদয়||

Untitled

2010-04-13T04:06:00.000-07:00

Story time guest ! Its my story very brief, shabby much unwanted, but I really think you could bear five of your precious minutes to take the trouble to read this. Would you stay by my side?

Everyday countless people come to me, people thirsty, exhausted, aimless, no-mad, so many people, I could not afford to ignore them, they use me insolently, I pour water incessantly. Water, water of soil give them life, and refresh them to live further. My heart pounds, I am so grateful to you all, you made me proud, help me to believe I am useful.

Everyday I listen to your stories, full of events; some are about hope, desires, joy and some of pain, loss, inheritance. I wish I could colour them , I wish I could colour your trouble, I wish one day at list one day you use me and I can pour the colour of your dream to the life.

Yesterday it was holi , you came to me with the joy painted in your hands. I witnessed the colour of your dream flowing with my water, I felt complete, and fulfilled.

How can I forget these moments that takes my breath away? Here I preserved them in this blog , may be you will come after twenty five years to find what it looked like, twenty five years will ever last.

Did Jyoti Basu Die ?

2010-01-15T23:00:00.000-08:00

If you read this blog after 32 years, if you read this story of a journey which is set amidst the vast meadow with a few peers around, if your heart is swept away with the tears of its soul, it will say don’t cry for me and it is because they say they can not die, it can not die, it will remain in the hearts of a million people; likewise in the drops her of tears.

She is a red flower, unknown, unnoticed, bloomed in an infamous bush everyday ignored by every soul. In her memoirs, she said, she met a man who appears with a brilliance of white from the deepest darkness of earthly hours.

She saw him coming, holding the sickle of the sun through the red sky; she witnessed so many battles and victories, and yet today he lost the final battle at the age of ninety five.

She watched him every autumn, every winter and every summer, standing between the people, people, the stream of humanity painted the city red. In those splendid moments, she silently observed how eloquently he held a million hearts in awe.

Today if she sees him fall, he will fall along with a thousand drops of tears, he will fall like the droplets in a cascade, she will salute him in his final journey towards the unknown, a red salute and the wind whispers you can not die because men Jyoti Basu can not die.

Happy New Year 2010

2009-12-31T07:58:00.000-08:00

Lives are streams flowing into the same river towards whatever heaven lies in the mist beyond the falls. Find Green, find joy in your life in the coming days.

Uncrowned Kings of Calcutta

2009-11-07T04:16:00.000-08:00

This is a story about those Kings who never had any crown on their heads and nearly forgotten by the people but were very much Kings at their times by their own rights.

Back in 1700 a short, bald man called Nabo Krishono carrying a little tummy in front was adorned with the title of Raja. The first honored Raja in Calcutta. As I have said you see, these Rajas didn’t have a crown or a throne. Neither had they any infantries, Cavalry or a forte nor even they left for jubilations or for a caravan.

Raja Nabakrishna taught Hestings ‘PHARSI’ in his normal attire- a tiny dhoti and a Chadar. He was an eminent educationist by his own rights.

There were other kings who never attired like a King but acquired crown by their merit. Such few names are Raja Ramohon Roy, Prince Dwarkanath Thakur, Raja Rajendralal Mullick, Raja Sukhomoy Mullick ,Raja Subodh Chandra Mullick and Raja Rajendralal Mitra.

Ramohon Roy was known for his social reformations such as abolition of ‘Satidah’ etc. Dwarkanath as a first Indian industrialist apart from the fact he was the grandfather of Rabinndranath Tagore, Subodh Chandra as a social worker , Rajendralal mullick as a owner of marble palace which is still a very attractive place for the tourists in Calcutta.

Raja Sukhomoy Mullick arranged the construction of ‘Cuttok’ road like Sher Shah which facilitates a very convenient way to travel from Calcutta to Puri.

Raja Subodh Mullick patronizes the national university which becomes Jadavpur Univercity at present. He was supported the freedom fight movement very intensely and adorned with title of Raja from the revolutionist, poets and intellectuals of Calcutta at that time. Rabindranath, Gokhel, CR Das were some of his admirers.

Raja Rajendralal Mitra came of a reputed family of West Bengal. His great grandfather was Raja Pitambar Mitra who himself was a real Raja. He fought for ‘Mughal Samrat Shah Alam’ against the nawab of Oudh (now named Ajodhya) . At the end of the war he found a trunk full of Ancient Relious Manuscipt which so moved his soul, that he put down arms and went to Brindavan and became a ‘Baishnav’. It is said, that one night Pitambar saw a dream which completely changed his life. That night he saw ESWAR (LORD) BALADEV JEW entering to his premises and was asking about his hospitality. The lord said he was stepping out from jamuna and he had to have a place to live with. Raja waked up and ran into the river and found two logs of Neam tree on the riverbed. It was the same place where ESWAR BALADEVJI stood in. Tears filled his eyes and nothing was visible at that time. He picked up the logs and decided to make idols of his coveted deities.

He came back to his ancestral place at SURA in Beliaghata, Kolkata.

He set up temple there and dedicated all his belongings at the feet of BALADEVJI.

When Rajendralal was born, the family was struggling for money and existence as Pitambar gave everything to the ‘debottor essate’ and left nothing for the family. Poverty never stopped Rajendralal from showing his excellence in study. He was inquisitive and hungry for knowledge. He was studying medical science when he fell ill and illness didn’t spare him to complete his study. He was being called up from England for the higher study but his father prevented him to go there he was just a boy of fourteen. He was then entered in the field of law and studied vehemently. He joined Asiatic Society as a clerk and became the first Indian President of that Society. It was him who studied chemistry, archeology explicitly and put his research paper first time as an Indian in the history of Asiatic Society. He knew many languages like Sanskrit, Urdu, and Pail. Besides Indian language he was adept in foreign language such as German, French,English etc. His contribution in rediscovering konarak Surya Mandir can not be ignored. He was the editor of ‘Bibithartho Songroho (A renounced Bengali periodicals of knowledge of that time)’ and later on he editted another periodicals named ‘Rohosyo Songroho(Collections of Mysteries)’.

Rabindranth was very fond of his writings and written about him in his autobiography ‘Jivansmriti’ .

He had written many books and article on Archeology. He was the conveyor of the Calcutta’s session of National congress. British Government had awarded him Raja for his excellence in study and social works. He passed away as an indologist and left behind his legacy Dr. Panchanan Mitra an eminent figure of Anthropology.

Yahoo`s rebranding campaign(Anthem) "its you"

2009-10-21T06:34:00.000-07:00

Yahoo!'s New "Anthem" Ad - The most amazing home videos are here

'Dynamic logic' an online-ad-research group analyzed 170,000 online ads database and come to a conclusion which strongly emphasized on the aesthetics which to be enhanced among the online advertisements. They have determined that creative factors such as persistent branding, strong calls to action and even human faces make for better ad recall, brand awareness, effectiveness and purchase intent.

Now I believe Creative is what person reacting to and which is why the brand has to come out from the banner ads. The graphics has to be more pictures dominative, more emotional, use human emotions their face, expressions, and stay simple. The ads that really reach out, that really touch a person and at the same time call them to action are the ones which have the most success.

An example is much awaited! Right and what could be better than mention yahoo “its you”(its called anthem) campaign which has covered online, television, print and outdoor in UK, US, India several other country.

So What's the Catch?

Web becomes more personally relevant to each of our consumers, so it’s important that we engage the world in the creation of our. See the video.

Web 2 'Prem'

2009-09-21T01:42:00.000-07:00

Recently I have been repeatedly asked by my friends to write something very funny on social networking, as I often write something very serious and they don’t quite like it. Someone told me his antenna had failed to connect with those posts which were mainly about social networking. Immediately after that he suggests why not write something casual and little out of the digital world. Ok here I am. A fun-poem on ‘social media’ prem. Forgive me for writing it in Bengali as this is the language I can write my best. This is the language, on which I understand the subtle pun of words, anecdotes etc etc.(from the people around me.) I wish I could translate it in English but in the same time I afraid I won’t be able to do any justice to it.

Joy of owning a home.

2009-08-26T22:51:00.002-07:00

When light fades from the face of the Earth, when birds wipe the scent of sunlight from their wings, all the tasks for the day are done, darkness begins to whisper, we come back home, our own sweet home- the shelter of life.

But I wonder how many of us really own the roof of our dreams. Thanks AGO, thanks Cedai for creating an opportunity to choose our ‘dream-home’ from the list of signature properties of Calcutta. The city has already witnessed REALTY EXPO earlier, but this time is it more specific to the needs of the Residential buyers. Home Front 2009 is more about us, about returning home, to the destination of our dreams.

Swine flu: Behind the Mask

2009-08-26T22:51:00.001-07:00

Pandemic Influenza H1N1 2009 has now spread across India. People everywhere are wearing masks. I doubt how many of them wearing the right one. The notion that wearing mask is only solution for swine flu prevention is a myth. It is a debatable issue and I am not going to write anything on it. This post is absolutely about the ‘Swine flu mask’ and I am going to highlight some facts about it. Now I put my time in talking with doctors and browsing through internet to get close to the actual stuff.

WHO (world health organization) certified N95 masks which is made in China. It doesn’t have any maximum retail price and people are cashing on the swine flu scare. Quite a few manufacturing companies increased it production while importing N95 face mask have also gone up.

Now, there are three type of masks are available in the market.
• single-layered (surgical mask),
• three-layered and the
• N95 Respirators.

Surgical mask (the green coloured mask) does not guarantee protection. As per the Doctors, N95 masks are the safest although they offer 95 % of protection from the virus. Thea-Tex Healthcare is manufacturing these masks in India. It is said US-based 3M Company is closely working with Indian Government and supplying face masks at the best they can.

US-based 3M is one of the leading manufacturers of the N95 respirators. They are supplying four different types of N95 respirators in India. The price of the N95 respirators varies from Rs.44 to Rs.300. The Masks are available at
http://shop.ebay.in/lakshya_india/m.html?LH_PrefLoc=7
http://www.tradeindia.com/manufacturers/indianmanufacturers/n95-mask.html
http://www.n95swineflumasks.info/N95-Swine-Flu-Masks/
(These are some links which may help readers to find more information about the vendors)

Finally, extending to my previous post on ‘Swine Flu’ I dig out some information related to the guideline which I thought would be helpful for the readers.

WHO Pandemic Influenza H1N1 2009 site:
http://www.who.int/csr/disease/swineflu/en/index.html

Hand Washing:
http://www.who.int/gpsc/clean_hands_protection/en/index.html
CDC Swine Flu Web Link: http://www.cdc.gov/swineflu/
Key Facts:
www.cdc.gov/swineflu/key_facts.htm
Topics: http://www.cdc.gov/niosh/topics/swineflu/
Other Influenza Links
http://www.cdc.gov/swineflu/whatsnew.htm
Case Counts: http://www.cdc.gov/swineflu/investigation.htm
Guidance and Recommendations:
http://www.cdc.gov/swineflu/recommendations
Seasonal Flu Overview http://www.cdc.gov/flu/weekly/
Influenza General Resources http://www.cdc.gov/flu/pandemic/
Influenza OPLAN http://www.cdc.gov/flu/pandemic/cdcplan.htm
CDC press briefing transcripts: http://www.cdc.gov/media/archives.htm

Sources:
http://www.prokerala.com/news/articles/a72002.html
http://www.hotklix.com/link/news/India/Swine-flu-Are-you-wearing-the-right-mask
http://www.indianomics.com/2009/08/12/now-n95-stands-for-effective-swine-flu-masks/
http://health.shop.ebay.in/i.html?_nkw=(swine+flu)++-ayurvedic+-oil&_sacat=26395&_trksid=p3286.m270.l1313&_sop=2&_odkw=(swine+flu)++-ayurvedic&_osacat=26395&rvr_id=&keyword=swine+flu+in&crlp=3879377862_446581&MT_ID=202&tt_encode=raw
http://search.who.int/search?ie=utf8&site=default_collection&client=WHO&proxystylesheet=WHO&output=xml_no_dtd&oe=utf8&q=swine+flu+mask&Search=Search&sitesearch=
http://www.afro.who.int/ddc/influenzaa/guidelines/mes_public_eng.pdf

How to Prevent and Prepare for Swine Flu in India

2009-08-10T06:38:00.000-07:00

Swine flu, a name that becomes threat in these days in India, but I wonder how many of us have enough information about the disease and its prevention methods. So I put my efforts and time to dig information which I thought would be relevant and useful. I met doctors, went to the health centers, dug out information from the media (newspaper/internet Television etc.) and then assimilated the information in a document. This post is dedicated to the fighters who have embarked upon a war on the disease.

What is ‘Swine Flu?’

I know everybody is aware of the terminology by this time when I am writing this post due to media circulation. The official name for the "swine flu" we face is A (H1N1) Influenza. Swine Flu is a viral infection and its most common symptoms are fever, running or blocked nose, nausea, chills, cough, soar throat, body ache, weakness and fatigue. One can also experience respiratory problems and can develop diarrhea in case of Swine flu.

There's no way to tell if you have the swine flu unless a respiratory specimen is taken within the first 4-5 days.

How does it spread?

H1N1 virus appears to be transmitted the same way that seasonal flu spreads mainly from person to person. It is commonly spread through coughing, sneezing, or by touching contaminated surface and then touching nose or mouth. People who live in air-conditioned, closed environments are more likely to catch the disease.

When should you Test?

Emergency warning signs in Adults:-

difficulty breathing or shortness of breath
Chest pain or abdomen pain
Dizziness
Persistent Vomiting
Symptoms of Flu improve but then return with fever and worse cough.

Emergency warning signs in Children:-

fast breathing or difficulty in breathing
Skin color changes into bluish or grey
Stop interacting
Not having enough fluids
Being very irritable
Fever with rash

Where should you Test?

If you have such symptoms don’t delay, get the help at your hand, go to the centers close to you, they will take blood sample and send to the specified government laboratories. The list of hospitals in the major cities is as follows:

All India toll free H1N1 helpline: 1075 or 1800-11-437

Delhi: Ram Manohar Lohia Hospital: 011-24525211, 23404328, 23365525

Deen Dayal Hospital: 011-2512 5259
Chennai: Communicable Diseases Hospital - 044-25912686.
Coimbatore Medical College Hospital - 09442012555
Kolkata: Infectious Diseases Hospital: 09433392182/ 09434009077
Hyderabad: AP Chest Diseases Hospital: 040-23814939
Mumbai: Kasturba Hospital: 022-23083901, 23083902, 23083903, 23083904
Pune: Dr Naidu Infectious Disease Hospital - 09923130909
Bangalore: Rajiv Gandhi Institute of Chest Diseases - 91-80-26632634
Lakeside Hospital - 80-5360823

What if you have already got it

Confine to a room, wearing a mask is must
Swine flu is most contagious in the initial five days. In the case of children, it can be contagious up to 10 days

What kind of drugs is generally prescribed?

Oseltamivir pills, seltamivir, generic version of Roche’s Tamiflu in India. Tamiflu, which is used worldwide to treat swine flu, is marketed by Swiss company Roche, in India. However, Roche was denied a patent for Tamiflu in India allowing Cipla to manufacture and sell generic version of oseltamivir (Tamiflu).

Gelsemium and Bryonia were the two homeopathic remedies that proved to be effective against the H1N1 strain back then.

How to be Safe

There is always some virus on tabletops, telephones and computers. So try not to touch your eyes, nose and mouth frequently.

Wash hands often with soap and water. Specially after sneezing and coughing

Drink loads of water and get enough sleep. Sleep derivation is an unhealthy habit and can affect your immune system too.

Stay 3-feet distance away from people who have a respiratory infection.

Allow the entry of sun in the house and all enclosed places. Airflow in the living space by opening the windows and proper ventilation is very important.

Make Kitchen and restrooms are clean.

Reduce the time spent in the crowded settings.

King of Pop songs in India …A Legend of glory

2009-08-05T04:46:00.000-07:00

One fine day one young lad came with his charming voice and said ‘Kabhi albida na kahena’ (never say goodbye), the tune which came from his voice, swept away the million hearts of Indians to the torrents of music and the voice became the voice of India. We sang with his rhythm and never let him fade away from our memory. We never said good bye to him. He is none other than Kishore Kumar, the king of popular music in India. He left us 22 years ago but leaves behind his legacy, countless memorable songs such as -‘A chalk e tujhe’, -‘Dil aisa kisine mera toda’, -‘Chingari Koi Bhadke’,-‘O majhi re’, ‘Dilbar mere..’ ‘Zindegi ek Safar’and so on. Yesterday was his birthday – a fond of remembrance. Voice of India still rocks million hearts.

Kishoreda, you are still very much here, close to our hearts, we haven’t forgotten you. ‘Pal pal dil ke pass tum raheti ho’

Kishore Kumar : King of pop songs in India by Sanjay Mitra

Magic on the net, Can somebody tell me how does it work?

2009-08-03T05:40:00.000-07:00

My day starts with browsing and ends with browsing too. I often encountered with some spectacular thing running through the web. One such thing is this flash application. I really need to figure out how this works. Mind-blowing flash app.

Check out here http://www.regiftable.com/regiftingrobinpopup.html

Poken : Extend your online social networking into the real world

2009-07-28T02:37:00.000-07:00

Managing friends and networks never been so easy, people have bought gadgets, address books, card holders and many more devices to make it accessible and convenient. We have seen digital diaries, organizers dumped on the table in form of gifts. Moreover, now when we are living in the age, where social networking through internet is leaping up rapidly, we found it more difficult to mange it, our old gadgets are no longer in use, scrambling for a pen and a scrap of paper or collecting business cards… give me a break.

‘Poken’ the latest little Social Media device has arrived to solve your problem. Pokens are the latest and best way to connect with people when you're grabbing a coffee, on campus or at a business event. Just tap poken-to-poken, and you are instantly connected to your friends and colleagues. It will store personal information of your friends and then you can plug it in a computer with an internet access to upload the contacts. The website and the system will give you the option to manage your friends from facebook ,orkut, myspace, high five and other networks.

Let me make it simpler for you –
1. First you will have buy and activate it.
2. Then you can connect by expanding a wave of your hand. It is more like handshaking. A magnetic pull between the hands will happen. Make sure they are properly aligned: palm-to-palm then ‘poken’ palms will glow green otherwise it will glow red indicating an error. Within one to two seconds it will fetch data and store on its database. The maximum capacity of storing is 64. Each Poken contact after the 64th will be saved, but it replaces the first contact stored on your poken. So the idea is to upload your contacts before exceeding the limit and you can be sure not to lose anyone.

3. Now pull the hands out from the body and insert the usb connector to your comp.

4. Then go doyoupoken.com and manage your profile. You will have to register yourself before you can do anything. Choose how people view your contact information, and view your friends' pages on Facebook, MySpace, and many other networks. Never again will you need to scribble your email address, screen name, or telephone number on a napkin!

Poken is your social keychain; it is extending Online Social Networking into the Real World. People are saying this little Social Media device is your Virtual business card. I expect this gadget to create lot of sensations in India and it is not very far when people will be carrying this little gadget like a mobile wherever they go.

You can check out the links mentioned below.

http://www.doyoupoken.com/PokenWeb/corporate/welcome.jsf

http://www.doyoupoken.com/PokenWeb/corporate/howdoesitworks.jsf?panel=connect

http://blip.tv/file/1805487/

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=61jYzrR5MN4

How to get a Website Design approved at first time

2009-07-23T08:52:00.000-07:00

A mood board is a sample board used to communicate the design intent. Mood boards are used at the earlier stage of a project to indicate the emotional and contextual aspects of a design concept.

Designers use mood or concept boards to convey the overall feel of a project, putting together images, typography, choice of colours, themes and so on. It is very useful at the early stages of a project as a guide tool to show to clients for approval before proceeding further. Sometimes mood-board containing cuttings from magazines, photographs and printed screenshots to give an idea of what client would like or not. A selection of mood boards to a client to act as a catalyst to get things going.

It is a method of getting ideas out of the client's mind's eye and pinning them onto paper/screen has to be good. Even if it's just a case of eliminating options, better to find out now rather than later! Mood boards are used extensively in Textile Design - where theme and abstraction work almost as strongly as Fine Art!

Moodboards should be the part of the web design process in almost every project. It allows the 'designer' to quickly explore and position high-level concepts, feel, tone of voice, colour, typography etc. without the expense of creating physical entities. Besides a client for a website need to sit down with the client service team along with the creative head and surf frantically for half an hour. And the team should make a note of the sites they liked and then, later, collated screenshots of them and added notes of which bits they liked/didn't like.

Coke said HELLO to Pepsi via Twitter

2009-07-06T07:07:00.000-07:00

An historic moment in branding.Coke was first to say a "gracious (but competitive) hello" to Pepsi and follow its rival. Later Pepsi responded with its own greeting, tweeting "Can rivals and tweeps coexist? Both are now following each other.

Coke said http://twitter.com/CocaCola/statuses/2413906945

Pepsi replies:
http://twitter.com/pepsi/statuses/2423584043

KEYA IDEA HAI SIRJEE !!!!

Twitter's effectiveness as a marketing tool

2009-07-06T06:59:00.000-07:00

Coke's and Pepsi's Twitter accounts give each brand personality, making them more appealing and human to consumers. Consumers form a friendship-like relationship with their favorite brands, become advocates, and continue to buy while simultaneously providing "free" advertising via word-of-mouth and social media.

http://twitter.com/cocacola
http://twitter.com/pepsi

The most viewed online viral campaign of 2008

2009-07-01T08:08:00.000-07:00

XXX - Diesel Commercial - Click here for more amazing videos

Recently DIESEL a major global brand of clothing took an audacious route to drive awareness of the events surrounding the company’s 30th anniversary celebrations, releasing the XXX “Safe For Work” viral video onto an unsuspecting global web audience.

The video, twisted the ‘dirty thirty’, anniversary celebrations concept into a far warped and provocative meaning, featuring ‘80’s pornographic video scenes reconfigured with crude hand drawn illustrations painted on top of them.

The viral campaign had received 6 million tracked views, with coverage on more than 600 site, as well as being reported on TV. To date the total views stands at over 20 million (all with no media investment), and the video continues to remain relevant and deliver brand equity.

Qualitatively, the campaign provoked more engagement with viewers generating thousands of comments from the online viewers.

Significantly it has grabbed most the prestigious awards this year. Some of them are as follows.

Webby Awards Best Viral 2009
D&AD Viral Films Winner 2009
BTAA Silver Award (Clothing Viral) 2009.

Diesel picked up the Grand Prix at Cannes two years ago in this category for the 'Heidies' underwear launch campaign and claims Cannes Cyber Gold Lion at 56th International Advertising Festival.

A quick look on DIESEL brand

Clothing Italian brands
Was founded by Renzo Ross
Diesel collections are made under the Creative Direction of Wilbert Das.
Official site: www.diesel.com
Diesel:U:Music: www.dieselumusic.com

In recent years the company has driven its attention to endorsing young creativity by sponsoring the youth market, by sponsoring several projects such as the Diesel-U-Music Contest or the [1] artistic programme. Diesel has been the founding partner of International Talent Support in its various forms. Diesel has also offered sponsorship and creative contribution to the 2006 edition of Vienna's Life Ball AIDS charity, as well as the Sundance Film Festival.

Data Visualization

2009-06-26T06:48:00.001-07:00

Data visualization is a new way to tell stories or create experiences out of the very base matter of the web itself. Data visualization is the advances in technology at the presentation layer and the new found ability to tap into once hidden data sources that is enabling these new visual scientists to chart a new narrative course.

The New York Times, which has always done stunning infographic work, is helping to push data visualization to a mass audience with its "Visualization Lab." http://vizlab.nytimes.com/ . Similarly, the Economist employs data visualization to graphically represent an ongoing conversation as part of its "Debate" series, which enables the user to track the developments and change in sentiment on a daily basis.( http://www.economist.com/debate/debates/overview/140).

The "Go" microsite (http://go.visa.com/) features seemingly random bits of data (16,438 people in Paris smiling back at the Mona Lisa) that the user can explore to see how Visa is "helping more people go places and do things." Similarly, the banner ads feature live video streamed from cities (such as Times Square in New York) around the world that show people "going" and utilizes similar data.

: Flickr, the online photo-sharing service from Yahoo, just recently released theFlickr Clock (http://www.flickr.com/explore/clock) a browser. Clockr is a neat Web-based clock that's generated via Flickr. The numbers you see for the clock are randomly pulled from Flickr. You can double-click on them to see the full image. It grabs photos of the "momment" and generates a dynamic digital clock with them.

A Tribute to Michael Jackson

2009-06-26T04:46:00.000-07:00

Oprah Asks Michael Jackson, "Are You a Virgin?" - Awesome video clips here

Men rise and fall like the winter wheat, but these names will never die. Michael Jackson is such name which will not be faded for many years. The man was a legend in his own right, no matter what your thoughts about Michael Jackson are, one can not deny Michael Jackson dubbed the King of Pop and was entertaining the world since the 1960s.

The death of this journey is the death of a composer, a musician, a singer, a dancer, an actor and an enigmatic figure is not the death of one person but one of the many.

Michael Jackson passed away today at the age of 50, but he leaves us his legacy in the form of music,which is the inspiration to countless millions.

Let’s salute the final journey of this legend with the little drops of anguish seeking with memories of yesterday's delight.

You can download Music Videos /Interviews from here

Billie Jean Music Video / lyrics:
Living With Michael Jackson (Interview) :
Oprah meets Jacko (Interview) :
Michael Jackson - We Are The World:
Michael Jackson - Billie Jean - Motown 25 - Music Video:
Michael Jackson - Heal The World - Music Video:
Michael Jackson - Earth Song:
Michael Jackson - In India:
Michael Jackson - Ben:

Trivia

Birth Name: Michael Joseph Jackson
Born: Michael Joseph Jackson was born on August 29th, 1958 in Gary, Indiana, USA.
Parents: Joseph and Katherine.
Wife: Debbie Rowe-Jackson (married on November 14, 1996 in Sydney, Australia; divorced on October 8, 1999), Lisa Marie Presley (married on May 26, 1994 in the Dominican Republic; divorced in January 1996)
Education: Spent much of his young life touring with his brothers and receiving private tuition. Rose Fine tutored him when he performed with his brothers as The Jackson Five.
Jobs: Songwriter and singer
Awards: Numerous awards. Best year was 1984 which included a record 8 Grammy awards, a record number won by an artist in one year.

Fast facts: Has regularly rebuilt his face using cosmetic surgery.

It is clear in the opinion of a number of plastic surgeons that Jackson has undergone extensive plastic surgery and it may be said that he is hardly recognizable as the same person he was as an adolescent, but the effectiveness of his cosmetic surgery has been hotly debated. Despite a number of surgeons' claims that Jackson has undergone multiple nasal surgeries as well as a forehead lift, thinned lips and cheekbone surgery, Jackson wrote in his 1988 autobiography "Moon Walk" that he only had two rhinoplastic surgeries and the surgical creation of a cleft in his chin, while attributing puberty and diet to the noticeable change in the structure of his face.

Jackson shocked his fans when he dangled his third child, infant Prince Michael II, over a balcony on the fourth floor of a Berlin, Germany hotel for all hovering fans to see. He later stated that he made "a terrible mistake.

His 1987 album "BAD" is third to "Thriller" as the biggest selling album of all time, with 20 million copies sold worldwide.

Inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 2001 (as a solo artist).

The music video for his song "Thriller" was with 13 minutes the longest music video ever, until this record was broken by The Streets with the video for the song "When You Wasn't Famous.

Received the Diamond Award for selling more than 100 million albums at the World Music Awards in London on 15 November 2006.

His favourite "Beatles' song is "Come Together" - his version of the song is on "History - Past, Present and Future.

1st May 2001: His video for "Thriller" was voted at #1 by VH1 on their countdown of the Top 100 Greatest Videos Of All Time. At #2 was "Like A Prayer" by Madonna.

With Lionel Richie, co-wrote the song "We Are the World," and was one of its performers. With Lionel Richie, co-wrote the song "We Are the World," and was one of its performers.

Has sold over 300 million records worldwide.

Claims to have given $300 million to charity, more than any other celebrity apart from Oprah Winfrey.

Taj mahal the true story

2009-06-20T04:02:00.001-07:00

No one has ever challenged it except Prof. P. N. Oak, who believes the whole world has been duped. In his book Taj Mahal: The True Story, Oak says the Taj Mahal is not Queen Mumtaz's tomb but an ancient Hindu temple palace of Lord Shiva (then known as Tejo Mahalaya ) . In the course of his research Oak discovered that the Shiva temple palace was usurped by Shah Jahan from then Maharaja of Jaipur, Jai Singh. In his own court chronicle,
Badshahnama,Shah Jahan admits that an exceptionally beautiful grand mansion in Agra was taken from Jai SIngh for Mumtaz's burial . The ex-Maharaja of Jaipur still retains in his secret collection two orders from Shah Jahan forsurrendering the Taj building. Using captured temples and mansions, as a burial place for dead courtiers and royalty was a common practice among Muslim rulers.

For example, Humayun,Akbar, Etmud-ud-Daula and Safdarjung are all buried in such mansions. Oak's inquiries began with the name of Taj Mahal. He says the term " Mahal " has never been used for a building in any Muslim countries from Afghanisthan to Algeria . "The unusual explanation that the term Taj Mahal derives from Mumtaz Mahal was illogical in atleast two respects.

Firstly, her name was never Mumtaz Mahal but Mumtaz-ul-Zamani ," he writes.Secondly, one cannot omit the first three letters 'Mum' from a woman's name to derive the remainder as the name for the building."Taj Mahal, he
claims, is a corrupt version of Tejo Mahalaya, or Lord Shiva's Palace . Oak also says the love story of Mumtaz and Shah Jahan is a fairy tale created by court sycophants, blundering historians and sloppy archaeologists . Not a single royal chronicle of Shah Jahan's time corroborates the love story.

Furthermore, Oak cites several documents suggesting the Taj Mahal predates Shah Jahan's era, and was a temple dedicated to Shiva, worshipped by Rajputs of Agra city. For example, Prof. Marvin Miller of New York took a
few samples from the riverside doorway of the Taj. Carbon dating tests revealed that the door was 300 years der than Shah Jahan. European traveler Johan Albert Mandelslo,who visited Agra in 1638 (only seven years after Mumtaz's death), describes the life of the cit y in his memoirs. But he makes no reference to the Taj Mahal being built. The writings of Peter Mundy, an English visitor to Agra within a year of Mumtaz's death, also suggest the
Taj was a noteworthy building well before Shah Jahan's time.

Prof. Oak points out a number of design and architectural inconsistencies that support the belief of the Taj Mahal being a typical Hindu temple rather
than a mausoleum. Many rooms in the Taj ! Mahal have remained sealed since Shah Jahan's time and are still inaccessible to the public . Oak asserts they contain a headless statue of Lord Shiva and other objects commonly used for worship rituals in Hindu temples . Fearing politicalbacklash, Indira Gandhi's government tried to have Prof. Oak's book withdrawn from the bookstores, and threatened the Indian publisher of the first edition dire consequences . There is only one way to discredit or validate Oak's research.

The current government should open the sealed rooms of the Taj Mahal under U.N. supervision, and let international experts investigate.

I am not sure about the authenticity of this document neither I want to authenticate it.
It could be a parochial propaganda, but you can check these links and come to a conclusion of your own.

http://www.stephen-knapp.com/was_the_taj_mahal_a_vedic_temple.htm
http://www.mouthshut.com/product-reviews/Taj_Mahal:_The_True_Story_-_P.N._Oak-925065658.html
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Purushottam_Nagesh_Oak
http://gleez.com/articles/general/the_real_story_of_tajmahal http://gleez.com/articles/general/the_real_story_of_tajmahal

To the Poem, for the Poem

2009-06-05T08:08:00.000-07:00

- Edward Estlin Cummings

"i carry your heart with me
(i carry it in my heart)
i am never without it
(anywhere i go you go, my dear; and whatever is done by only me is your doing, my darling)
I fear no fate
(for you are my fate, my sweet)
i want no world
(for beautiful you are my world, my true)
and it's you are whatever a moon has always meant
and whatever a sun will always sing is you
here is the deepest secret nobody knows
(here is the root of the root and the bud of the bud
and the sky of the sky of a tree called life; which grows
higher than soul can hope or mind can hide)
and this is the wonder that's keeping the stars apart
i carry your heart (i carry it in my heart)"

To someone whom I know for the years

2009-06-05T08:02:00.002-07:00

The face you will never forget …the face which brings life in me to live another day, the face I have seen in the dark desert night …lightning my hope to reach there and to touch your breath through my skin and to tell you that I have waited long for this to happen.

To someone whom I know for the years

2009-06-05T08:02:00.001-07:00

To someone whom I know for the years, may be before the days of awakening, and may be the day before my youth, I cherished, I touch her hair, smell her presence, and embrace her in the pinnacle of my desires. I never seen her walking down the road, come through the thick darkness and appear in front under the morning sun.

Today my heart got a sound of breezing, rustling to your heart, have you got the whisper passing away gently? Have you noticed your uncontrollable fluttering of eyelids without a reason? Have you felt the clandestine turbulence inside your heart? I set my journey to the roads of lonely nights, let thy door open on the laps of night, someday I will come and sleep with the eternal peace.

Public Relations on the Internet - PR 2.0

2009-04-23T00:29:00.000-07:00

With news search engines and influential blogs shifting the integrated marketing communications paradigm,public relations on the Internet is rising high. Public Relations Strategies and Tactics are heading towards a new horizon.

Recently people are focussed on the Video search engine optimization services,Press Release Optimization Services, Blog Optimization Services,Viral Videos etc.

Key notes on Video SEO (VSEO)

1. Research video-related keyword phrases before optimizing
2. Always include user-friendly, keyword-focused metadata in all video files
3. video search engines should have easy access to the video clips.
4. Create a video library or catalog
5. Cross-link to other Web pages containing similar video content
6. Submit and distribute your video files to video search engines and video-sharing Web sites.

The secret recipe" for video search engine optimization, video SEO or VSEO is about building a strong foundation,keeping usability principles and others which we usually do in AGO (web development india). Videos can deliver a great return on investment (ROI). If your company is interested in optimized press release or video optimization services, click on www.agomnimedia.com

Crowdsourcing" to connect your brands with customers

2009-04-21T21:52:00.000-07:00

Crowdsourcing is the online distribution of certain tasks to crowds of experts and enthusiasts. It is an act of taking a task traditionally performed by an employee or contractor, and outsourcing it to an undefined, generally large group of people or community in the form of an open call. Problems are broadcast to an unknown group of solvers in the form of an open call for solutions.The term has become popular with business authors and journalists as shorthand for the trend of leveraging the mass collaboration enabled by Web 2.0 technologies to achieve business goals. For example, the public may be invited to develop a new campaign or carry out a design task (also known as community-based design) for your brand.

Perceived benefits of crowdsourcing include:

Problems can be explored at comparatively little cost, and often very quickly.

The organization can tap a wider range of talent than might be present in its own organization.

Crowdsourced Creative Services

OpenAd.net
OpenAd.net (http://www.openad.net/)is one of the most prominent examples of crowdsourcing of creative ideas and design services. OpenAd.net provides marketers the ability to generate advertising ideas from a distributed network of more than 11,500 creatives from more than 125 countries. Major brands such as MTV, Virgin Atlantic and DaimlerChrysler have all sourced ad work from the company.

Another good example of crowdsourcing is going on now at http://www.helpusnameus.com where a national marketing firm is crowdsourcing through social mediums to find a new company name.

colourlovers.comhttp://www.colourlovers.com/creative community site, just nominated for a Webby Award, is exclusively focused on sharing of colors and palettes.

patterntap.comhttp://patterntap.com/ is one of the best community sites for interface designers looking for inspiration to solve common design problems, such as creating 404-not-found pages, navigation, footers, breadcrumbs, log-ins and more.

There are literally hundreds more. It's not always easy to spot the beginnings of a seismic shift, but once a technology is unleashed and widely adopted, it's awfully hard to make it disappear. Just ask any music-industry executive or newspaper journalist.
However, some have taken strong stands against the crowdsourcing of creative services and "spec work." There is even a new online organization called NO!Spec(http://www.no-spec.com/) that is actively trying to educate designers on the perils of participating and performing services for free.
Creative agencies are supposed to be hothouses of ideas with charismatic leaders and collaborative teams.But some says creativity is a social activity also.What happens when the technology behind crowdsourcing makes creativity a social activity that knows no geographic bounds?

For marketers, crowdsourcing creative services poses both great risks and rewards. Do you risk sourcing one brilliant creative idea at the expense of building a trusted relationship with a partner who lives and helps evolve your brand, in many cases, for years at a time? Can both approaches coexist?

Where does the creative produced by the collective take us? Do we visit wild new frontiers or does a herd mentality take hold? Let the debate on .

Cyber Brands: What`s New

2009-03-30T06:57:00.000-07:00

I think one of the brands that uses interactive in a really wise way lately is Comcast. The awareness they've gotten since their 2005 fantastic. Comcast Corporation digital cable service, the largest cable television company, the second largest Internet service provider (high-speed Internet,) one of the brands that uses interactive in a beautiful way. Check out the site. It is press worthy the way in which user interacts with others in the website.

http://www.comcasttown.com/

Uniqlo has just launched a new microsite to present it Women collection. The world they picture this time is all pink and you can't help thinking about Barbie with a touch of Pink Panther. It has been focusing on delivering a rich user experience that could possibly drive online sales. The links are as follows.

http://www.uniqlo.com/jp/campaign/women/
http://www.uniqlo.com/us/

K-Swiss has refreshed the look of its Kspace website with the help of Perfect Fools. The website combines beautiful shots of K-Swiss' testimonials with video interviews.

http://kspace.kswiss.com/#/?country=us&page=world§ion=alexandrarichards

Beams celebrates the 25th anniversary of its Women collections with a dedicated website. As it often happens with Japanese digital works, the product presentation is particularly interesting to check.

http://www.beams.co.jp/women25th/

W3C - Creating only Fuss or Just Something to do with it.

2009-03-30T06:46:00.000-07:00

We are living in the rapid changing world of web, everyday some new sounds buzzing through the air, some new words or jargon (whatever you may like to say) is occupying more space of your favorite blog, forum and even in some website. Social networking sites, web apps each of them have something to offer very new, a cutting edge stuff which you never experienced before. Recently I was reading about the Canvas which is a part of (HTML element). I have encountered few unknown words ‘WHATWG !’ is one of them, let’s get rid of the abbreviation to make it easier, it is actually Web Hypertext Application Technology Working Group.The group was founded by individuals from Apple, the Mozilla Foundation and Opera Software. Their main objective is to focus on three areas.
HTML 5 (formerly titled Web Applications 1.0) is the fifth major version of the HTML and has been adopted by the W3C.
Web Forms 2.0 is an update to HTML forms. referred by W3C
Web Controls 1.0, which is not actively being worked on.

What a decent way to talk about W3C!
World Wide Web Consortium (W3C) is the main international standards organization for the World Wide Web was founded and is headed by Sir Tim Berners-Lee once. Since inception, it has invited members like Microsoft , Google etc. etc. and since then it is being dominated by larger organizations and thus writing standards that represent their interests.
The objective was to create and to ensure compatibility and standards between web pages. The consortium was created to get all vendors to agree on a set of core principles and components which would be supported by everyone. Prior to its creation, incompatible versions of HTML were offered by different vendors, increasing the potential for inconsistency.

I have a question here. Being an end user whose main objective is to browse and gather information, we got stuck in few occasions.
Why W3C still not reinforcing on their recommendations which are widely accepted.
Why a simple user does have to face browser compatibility issues?
Why a developer does have to waste their precious times by writing java script codes for each browser?
In the end the development cost increased both for the service provider and seekers. ROI goes down. In AGO ‘web development India’ we have developed an e-commerce application for our client Rupa. The website url is http://www.eurofashions.in where we had to face a similar kind of problem. The compatibility was the issue, we found differences in DOM interpretation and finally the profit eaten by technical hazards. Now who is actually responsible for that? it is a debatable issue. Let the debate on…

Today, if XForms specification was made an official W3C Recommendation. What is this X Forms? It is an XML format for the specification of a data processing model for XML data and user interface(s) for the XML data, such as web forms. XForms was designed to be the next generation of HTML / XHTML forms, at list that is told in their website. Now before anybody could plunge into it I strongly feel the enforcement has to be made by W3C so that user, developer nobody face any problem like muti-browser compatibility advance user control etc.

So the debate on I invite fraternity to participate in it.

To find a home in this vicinity: An affordable realistic solution.

2009-03-21T05:37:00.000-07:00

I have written something on the theme of our recent real estate show in my early post titled ‘A portrait of Rural Bengal’.
But I think I should have talked a little about the show which might have clarified the context of that article.
Here in AGO (web development india)( http://www.agomnimedia.com/) we conduct a realty show (http://www.realtyexpo.in/) every year under our flagship brand AGO Plus. We do it in association with Credai Bengal which is known as the apex body of the organized real estate developers/builders across West Bengal. The show (http://www.realtyexpo.in/realtyexpo.htm) conceptualized to showcase an ensemble of Real Estate projects in West Bengal. For me it is just like another fair like ‘book fair’, ‘handicrafts fair’ ‘leather fair’ ‘industrial fair’ that are held in Calcutta every year. Here we can have the plethora of homes under one roof. We will be able to interact with the people involved with building construction, material manufacture, Home and Office decoration and so forth. Interestingly, we can even talk to those people who usually fulfill our dream by lending the money without which the dream of home would have never been fulfilled. Yes, I am talking about the financier, who have their own numerous rules & regulations to be followed when you ask for finance from them, and it would be more bothering when conveyed through phone. .
I was not at all surprised when I heard about the massive footfall on the show last year. Everybody like me is always very keen about the realestate projects happening in the city as it allows them to create their own wish list, to accumulate the information which is very useful but hard to find normally. It is nothing but to observe dream has been transforming gradually towards reality. People know what they can afford, but never find any suitable choice for that, and if something happens to come in sight, they are unsure about the next step.

So this time I am going to visit the ‘mela’, if any of you interested you can join me at Science City, March 04 – 08, 2009 about 11 AM to 9 PM.. Everyone has got right to leave their own life fulfilling their cherished dream. If you go there don’t forget to write something about the theme and of course about your much desired sweet home.

A Portrait of Rural Bengal.

2009-03-21T05:34:00.000-07:00

This if for the Biggest Real Estate Show in West Bengal organized by AGO plus a flagship brand of AGO (Web Development India)

Long before Job Charnock dropped anchor at the village of Sutanati, in 1690, and laid the foundations of Calcutta, Bengal was there to stand as land of great diversity. The soil witnessed the rich history floating through the years gone by. It is a state that has seen it all - the agile Dravidians who reigned 4000 years ago to the red coloured battle grounds of Plassey and then the British Raj and the echo of Swadeshi (independence) movement.

Every thing is different here... the people in their 'dhoti-puunjabi' style reflecting true 'bonediyana' (opulence), the food that relishes the taste buds until the rich aroma evaporates from the palate, a language that is as sweet as honey, a literature that can boast of a Nobel Prize coupled with the zeal that ignites fire in every soul. It is a place that goes fervent about football as well as about politics, people who are as enthusiastic in their religious festivities as in celebrating their bards.
West Bengal, 'the queen of all' is a dream in itself. The culture of west Bengal in every pulse of it shows its exuberance in the modus vivendi of Bengalis.

If today we can look through our colonial past ,beyond palaces of British, churches of Dutch and Hazarduari of Nawabs , still the old rural Bengal with her quiet placid beauty , with her affectionate healing touch of old charm will enthrall us.

Our own eternal Bengal with her Rarh bhumi - red earth, with her Baishnab Padabali, bhatiyali gan, with her Brotokatha, Baro mashe tero Parbon ( thirteen festivals in twelve months) , with her Agomoni, bhaiphonta ( Bhaiya duj) spreads her lap like a mother does for her son . It is an assurance that there are ups and downs in life but the basic fabric will remain same, it is the ever flowing stream of life, of Bangla and Bangali.

Here we have shown the soul of rural Bengal with her cultural facet through the beautiful painting style of Bengal School.

The move started in early 1900. By that time British rule was in all out attempt to eradicate the cultural identity of their colony and to counter that Nationalist movement was in full swing. The rulers used to look down upon the simple yet romantic Bengal art against Realistic European Art. Bengal School took the challenge and joined hand to revive the lost glory of old Indian Art.

In 1854, the first Industrial Art Society was set up in Calcutta by Rajendralal Mitra.(who happened to be my ancestor, great uncle of Panchanan Mitra who is a grandfather ) Soon it was converted into the Calcutta Government College of Art. This first notable `movement' to re-ignite India’s art was initiated by artist like Abanindranath Tagore, Nandalal Bose, D.P. Roy Choudhury, A. K. Haldar, K. Venkatappa, Samarendranath Gupta, Kshitindranath Mazumdar, Sarada Ukil and M.A.R. Chugtai and Jamini Roy.
The main traits of the work in this school are the artist's sources of inspiration, themes derived from mythology and rural lifestyles.

However, not all artists were prepared to sub serve the demands of the prevailing isms. Jamini Roy, taking a more individualized stance, turned his gaze onto the immediate reality around him. It is his studies of the Santhal tribals, with their sharp angular lines and clear colours, which indicated the possible direction that must be taken to discover an indigenous idiom and sensibility. His art also resembles with Kalighat patachitra which is a local trend of painting prevalent throughout the late 18th and the whole of the 19th century centred around Calcutta's Kalighat temple.
This style originated after colonial rule had destroyed the equilibrium of Bengal village life and after the village Patuas began losing their livelihood. As a result, Patuas from the vicinities of Calcutta started to throng around Kalighat temple and started selling paintings of to devotees and pilgrims. Initially the Patuas painted traditional religious subjects, but the contact with urban life made them look for contemporary and secular subjects. The life of the English people and more interestingly, the depiction of the life of the Calcutta Babus, became more popular items. The Patuas reflected in their paintings the incoherence of the urban life with an extraordinary sense of humour. Kalighat Patachitras derived definite inspirations from folk dolls and statuettes. They have become famous for the beauty of their undulated flowing lines, their particular technique of achieving modulation, and their amazing sense of observation, simplification and proportion.

We believe people will enjoy the glory of dhansiriti that never fades and let them unfold the dusk of rural Bengal and recite:

Amidst a vast meadow the last time when I met her
I said: 'Come again a time like this
if one day you so wish
twenty five years later.'
This been said, I came back home.
After that, many a time, the moon and the stars,
from field to field have died, the owls and the rats
searching grains in paddy fields on a moonlit night
fluttered and crept! - shut eyed
many times left and right
have slept
several souls! - awake kept I
all alone - the stars on the sky
travel fast
faster still, time speeds by.
Yet it seems
Twenty-five years will forever last.

Green Initiative

2009-03-21T05:31:00.000-07:00

Everything we do in AGO is Avant Garde. It is so with the green initiative also. In the dawn of this year we took an oath which was defined here.

Cyber Branding: Brand Building in Cyber Space

2009-03-21T05:30:00.005-07:00

The advertiser has tried to communicate with someone lying on the couch half asleep for a long time… The man has woken up now. Mobile content, Digital TV, downloading of TV series, online video and search for information on the net are new habits in media consumption and growing at a phenomenal pace.

Cross section of the society use the web for business, entertainment and information. Even tens of thousands of farmers in India use the web at the E Choupals and other such projects. This is not the future. It is a present day scenario.

So brands cannot reach people only by buying media alone.
The consumer is front of the computer actually decides what he wants to see. He is the new creative director. How do you please this guy?

So what’s different?
Leap from brand communication to brand interaction
You have to earn consumer’s attention rather than simply buy it (on demand media)
Social and Viral network can exponentially increase brand equity
Marketing, evolving from media mogul determined dictatorship into consumer determined meritocracy.Undoubtedly the tremendous Versatility and Flexibility are the two main characteristics of advertising in today’s new context.

Power of interactivity

Interactive can help brands be where the consumers are in meaningful and relevant ways
If your brand stands for innovation then you can demonstrate that innovation, not just tell about it
This is where interactivity can leapfrog over traditional media, by tangible demonstration and brand experiences
You can enable peer to peer network dynamics where consumers receive a message not from an advertiser but from their trusted friends.

Important ingredients
-The way the Company handles customer inquiries
-The ‘sound’ of a web site,
-The tone of voice in its emails
-Its downloading time,
-The ease of navigation
-Its security policy
-Its color scheme
Consistent writing style.

There are other things which i will discuss in my other post. Till then Good Night.

Greetings from AGO

2009-03-21T05:27:00.000-07:00

On Every occasion we publish a card along with the message for our friends, family and well wishers. Our clients have never been treated as clients rather they are part of our extended family , AGO family. Here I have uploaded some of them.

The form or the function

2009-03-21T05:25:00.000-07:00

Over the years people around the world in advertising industry get involved in this debate. What is the main essence of a creative campaign that created a sensation? Is it the creative form? Aesthetical excellence? Story telling? The flow? or the functional strategy that bring the audience close to the campaign?. We are unsure, so are the judges of the different creative award shows. There is always a dilemma among them to put their verdict on any particular Campaign on the basis of few criteria. Effie awards are given on the basis of ‘challenge’, ‘‘solution’ ‘presentation’ etc etc. Now, what if some campaigns ( in the whatever format, online or offline) has performed reasonably well in terms of effectiveness but may not have that solid creative impact on customers mind . In that case, the campaign may not be entitled for an award but has already received an award from the audience, at least in terms of ‘ROI’.
Well, Advertising is, and has always been, a balancing act between creativity and effectiveness. But the importance of creativity to a great degree is always expected and desirable. Being a creative person, or being a part of this fraternity, one can not ignore the liability towards the society as, I believe, every one of us is a contributor of the greater transformation that takes shapes in global landscape of the 21st century.
I need to hear from you anything more.

AGO: a glimpse from my memory

2009-03-21T05:20:00.000-07:00

Every man's memory is his private literature. I have started my journey with Avant-Garde-Omnimedia the web development companyon the ist of August 2003. It was a company called cdwriters then. Samir Prasad an young entrepreneur has visualized forming of a company which ll not only will just cater to the web industry but also will stand as a greater platform for the young Artist Community .He shared that dream with me and made me a part of it. So the company AGO was formed and its identity was created .

Why do I design ?

2009-03-21T05:18:00.006-07:00

Someone once asked me that? Ok here is my answer.

I don’t do the design, I think of them, then I see them to appear from the bottom of my heart.They are transformation in shape of the untold inner-words and grow up with glory. I closely look at each of those unknown steps and get thrilled. It gives me joy on their achievement and makes me sad when they fumble. The ecstasy is unbearable; agony is uncontrollable to hold my tears. My design is also like a journey in this planet but the difference is that I crossed it so many times and never got tired to travel a new one.

Web 2.0 a Designers view

2009-03-21T05:18:00.001-07:00

Web design is simpler than ever, and that's a good thing. 2.0 design means focused, clean and simple.
You have to look at the content. You find yourself interacting with exactly the screen features the designer intended. And you don't mind - it's easy, and you get just what you came for.

Jakob Nielsen's (usability specialist)analysis of 42 websites found that usability projects increased sales by an average of 100% (traffic by 150% and productivity by 161%). Simplicity means, use as many pixels as you need, in whatever way you need, to facilitate the communication that needs to happen.

The list below is a summary of many of the common features of typical "Web 2.0" sites.

Simplicity / Central layout / fewer columns / Separate top section / Solid areas of screen real-estate / Simple nav / Bold logos / Strong colours
Rich surfaces etc.

Some of this example can be seen in our design.
AGO example: http://www.eurofashions.in/http://www.primoestates.com/http://www.rdesigns.in/http://www.facultyschool.org/

Solid areas of screen real-estate

Leading on from the clearly differentiated top area, you'll notice that lots of sites define the various areas of real-estate boldly and clearly.

Real estate comes in various forms, including:Navigation / Background / canvas
Main content area / Other stuff /Callouts / cross-links /
It's possible to design a web page so that these areas are immediately distinct from their neighbours.
The strongest way to do this is using colour, white space etc.

AGO example:

http://www.primoestates.com/
http://www.eurofashions.in/

Web 2.0 in a nutshell

2009-03-21T05:17:00.002-07:00

To create something which is really cutting edge, something which will put us at an advantage over the rest, we will have to look beyond just the latest trends. So what will the corporate website of the future look like?
Corporate websites largely began life as an online version of the company brochure, but things are changing fast. Developments in web technology, browsers, content management systems and computers themselves ensure that the web is a very forward moving medium.
Today we so often talk about web 2.0, but what exactly a web 2.0? Rich Internet Application (RIA)? Service Oriented Architecture (SOA) ? Social Web? Techno Branding/Cyber Branding? Yes all of them.

Rich internet applications bring the experience from the desktop into the browser, whether it's from a graphical point of view or from usability point of view, such as drag and drop, which makes the desktop experience preferable to the web. i-Google, google maps would be a very good example for that. Video Streaming on http://www.youtube.com/ http://www.metacafe.com/ http://www.movieflix.com/ also be a good example of that.

Service-oriented architecture can be defined as a group of services, which communicate with each other. The process of communication involves either simple data passing or it could involve two or more services coordinating some activity. Some means of connecting services to each other is needed.
http://www.geni.com/ is a perfect example of that.

There are different ways in which people want to socialize on the Web today. The typical kind of socializing is typified by "people focus" websites such as Blogspot, Bebo, Facebook, and Myspace. Such sites promote the person as focus of social interaction.

The second kind of socializing is typified by a sort of "hobby focus" websites. For example, if one is interested in photography and wants to share this with like-minded people, then there are photography websites such as Flickr, Kodak Gallery and Photobucket etc.

Aesthetics:food for thoughts

2009-03-21T05:17:00.001-07:00

esthetics, the philosophical study of beauty and taste. We are acquainted with an interesting and puzzling realm of experience: the realm of the beautiful, the ugly, the sublime, and the elegant; of taste, criticism, and fine art; and of contemplation, sensuous enjoyment, and charm. In all these phenomena we believe that similar principles are operative and that similar interests are engaged. If we are mistaken in this impression, we will have to dismiss such ideas as beauty and taste as having only peripheral philosophical interest. Alternatively, if our impression is correct and philosophy corroborates it, we will have discovered the basis for a philosophical aesthetics.

Dreams are illustrations... from the book your soul is writing about you.

2009-03-21T05:10:00.000-07:00

“You use a glass mirror to see your face; you use works of art to see your soul”- George Bernard Shaw.

In my college days I experienced the greatest degree of pleasure in having contact with works of art. They furnish me with happy feelings of an intensity.

My Paintings

2009-03-21T05:01:00.001-07:00

“Are we to paint what's on the face, what's inside the face, or what's behind it?”- Pablo Picasso asked this.

Each second we live is a new and unique moment of the universe, a moment that will never be again. Hold it, touch it, feel it by your arm,eyes and mind. Every artist dips his brush in his own soul, and paints his own nature into his pictures.

“Painting is poetry that is seen rather than felt, and poetry is painting that is felt rather than seen” - Leonardo da Vinci

My Voyage to Arts and crafts.

2009-03-21T04:38:00.000-07:00

In my early days when I used to paint a little, write a little and think a little. Those days when I did things as per my wish…
Some piece of reminiscence uploaded here.

Down the Memory Lane

2009-03-21T04:14:00.000-07:00

The road I traveled up until now, had several twist and turn. Sometime I felt lonely and exhausted and thought living the path unexplored. On that very time, (the moments of silence and turmoil) Robert Frost pushed me from the back and I took the journey again. Coming few posts will be dedicated to those landmarks I left behind.

ROAD LESS TRAVELED
Robert Frost

Two roads diverged in a yellow wood
And sorry I could not travel both
And be one traveler, long I stood
And looked down one as far as I could
To where it bent in the undergrowth

Then took the other as just as fair
And having perhaps the better claim
Because it was grassy and wanted wear
Though as for that, the passing there
Had worn them really about the same

And both that morning equally lay
In leaves no step had trodden black
Oh, I kept the first for another day!
Yet, knowing how way leads onto way
I doubted if I should ever come back

I shall be telling this with a sigh
Somewhere ages and ages hence
Two roads diverged in a wood
And I took the one less traveled by
And that has made all the difference

If I can write something about me

2009-03-21T04:13:00.000-07:00

The First Manifestation

2009-02-25T04:53:00.000-08:00

My feelings which have now refused to be confined in solitude. May be I want them to be witnessed by others, may be, I love their manifestations in the face of earth. I may want their voice to flow like a river, may be I don’t want to recognize them as my very own. Let it be lost, lost along with thousand other voices. May the time will come someday and whisper that you owe me something.