Sunday 4 December 2011

Of adjectives that don't apply

What's common to beautiful, popular, controversial, helpful, successful, deserving and proud ? Besides being adjectives ? What's common is that they don't apply to this blog. Nothing here is beautiful, popular ......; you get the drift.

When you are tagged to apply those adjectives to your blog, you have to really scratch your head. Tagging used to be a rage three years ago when blogging itself was a rage. Blogging is now in a steep and precipitous decline. The ladies who started deeply intellectual tags that asked "What are you wearing" have all disappeared. Tags have naturally vanished. But Reflections, a star blogger started this tag and Preeti, a master blogger has tagged me with extremely affectionate words that have gone straight into my head. I was also tagged by a blogger I deeply respect and admire, and since she did me the honour of not linking my blog but simply saying incredibly kind words, I am doing so likewise. So I have force fitted the adjectives to my blog and in a fit of vanity, picked up the tag.

This is the tag

Rules:
1) Blogger is nominated to take part

2) Blogger publishes his/her 7 links on his/her blog – 1 link for each category.
The links are:
- Your most beautiful post
– Your most popular post
– Your most controversial post
– Your most helpful post
– A post whose success surprised you
– A post you feel didn’t get the attention it deserved
– The post that you are most proud of

3) Blogger nominates up to 5 more bloggers to take part.

4) These bloggers publish their 7 links and nominate another 5 more bloggers
5) And so it goes on! 


Unlike Preeti, who has taken posts from this year, I thought I would go back to 3 years ago when I started blogging and choose posts from the early days. From my first two months of blogging.

Beautiful post - A moving video . Not a real post, but simply a link. Nothing in a business blog can remotely be termed beautiful.
Popular Post - E Mail addiction. It got THIRTEEN comments (ha ha). Never mind that half of those were my own replies. But in the good old days when even one comment was a joy to behold, that seemed like out of the world.
Controversial Post - Leave the wives at home . You are forbidden from asking if I know the meaning of the word controversial.
Helpful - A (Power) Pointless world . If only many will "take my help".
Success surprised you - Subprime crisis in plain English - My first double digit comment post. You are again forbidden from asking if I know the meaning of the word "success"
Didn't get the attention it deserved - Its just not cricket . Got zero comments. Boo Hoo !
Post most proud of - Women in Indian business .  I truly believe this.

For once I will break my habit of not tagging others and actually tag 5 bloggers who have stopped blogging. They are lovely bloggers and we must respect their decision not to continue, but I can't resist harassing them - so to you The Thoughtful Train, Le Embrouille Blogeuer, Half Indian, Sri and the non sarkari Sardar - (he's even deleted his blog) - come back you lot. We really miss you.
By the way, in case you are wondering why all my linked posts have a rude exclamation mark instead of a photo, its probably Blogger telling me what it thought of them !!

20 comments:

Sandhya Sriram said...

wow Ramesh.

It was really amazing of you to go back to your really early times of posts.

some of these i had read, but some of them, i had missed and there is almost the feeling of reading 5 great posts from Ramesh on one single day.

every post of yours is a quotable quote. every now and then i keeping drawing a message from your blogs and end up quoting them.

You have picked my most popular quotes here - the one on emails.

and one that i quoted recently to someone - about women in Indian business and the other one as well in similar lines(which is the closest to my heart - you know which one).

Lucky to be part of this blog :-)

Vishal said...

What a treat, Ramesh! though I had read one of these seven earlier (the one that you are proud of), it was worth reading it again. Each one of these seven leaves something to ponder over. Just awesome. Awesome video that goes well with the topic of your previous post. Indeed moving!!! wonder there is another world that is living with all of us. the video reminds me of this past Children's day celebrations with slum kids when we took some 15 kids to Delhi zoo and trust me every second spent with was an eye opener. They ate the good restaurant lunch like never before and the joy was priceless. Alas! so much is the expectation and we end up doing so little :(

Hema said...

All your posts are great Ramesh!
You should add adjectives like 'interesting, humorous , witty, clever ' etc...you could tag plenty.

Think this one could fall under 'beautiful' category..

http://indigoite.blogspot.com/2011/05/voice-of-angel.html

Appu said...

Okie i have said this other times too but, you really have to consider publishing.
You can just creat a lay out put posts and self publish it online in amazon. if you are going to do hardcopy publishing i want to be your agent ;)

Shachi said...

Sir, you write very well! The first video you highlighted made me cry. I sent it to my friends and pleaded everyone to not waste food. I try my best never to do so.

The last post about women in Indian workforce - you are so BANG on! It's the #1 reason why I am terrified of returning to India. I'm so spoilt here in that sense - I am allowed a flexible work schedule (I recently switched to a 3.5day work week {with a paycut} so that I can spend more time with my 16-month old daughter). I am allowed to work from home upto 2 days a week, and I can say NO to business travel anytime I wish. I'm compensated fairly and I probably get more benefits for being a minority in the semiconductor industry. I do put in the hard work and diligence in my work, but atleast I have a reasonable work-life balance. Have things changed from the time you wrote this post?

Ramesh said...

@Sandhya - There is nothing like a good dose of Sandhya comments to make anyone walk on air for a whole day. Ah - the other post is also one of my favourites, but since it was much more recent, I didn't pick that.

@Vishal - That was a nice thing to do. At every opportunity do a similar thing, however small, and you'll be amazed how much it lifts the spirit.

@Hema - Awww. So sweet. I am totally touched that you went and commented on my Boo Hoo post. Oh yes, the Sissel post was also a beautiful one, especially since literally she is beautiful too !!

@zeno - Incredibly kind words. I will knock myself three times to make sure that it doesn't go to my head.

@Shachi - I wish I could tell you that things have changed in India, but alas that is not the case. Corporate life continues to be a testasterone thing. However what has changed is that alternative careers have truly opened up. A balance is much more possible in a not for profit, or creative or educational which can all be as satisfying as a corporate career.

Deepa said...

Its a lovely compilation. Brought a smile on my face as I went through each one of them. I guess I hadn't started following your blog back then. It was nice going through the comments section too! Your baby has grown into a beautiful and elegant damsel and she is going to be one of those ladies who keep getting better with age! :)

Ramesh said...

@Deepa - I am now blushing furiously as any damsel would do :)

Appu said...

Reg women in corporate, I am would differ. At least in my project, I have seen my managers always accomadating for a 4 day work at home. I myself have approved fulltime work from home. I have heard from the beneficaries of IBM's Women policy as one of the best.

Tarun said...

This is absolutely great, especially for guys like me who only recently started following your blog...now, I've added your past blogs to my reading list. Of all these, I particulalry liked your narration on sub-prime in plain english - I've read so much on this topic ranging from Fool's Gold by Gillian Tett to Big Short and Boomerang by Michael Lewis, and I must say that your narration is equally insightful and a lot more fun to read - I truely believe that if you were to author a book, it will go on to be a bestseller...

Preeti Shenoy said...

Thanks so much for taking up the tag. I read all the posts you have linked. I too had posted the hunger video a long time back and had cried when i had first seen it.

As regards women in Indian business,many men I speak to feel differently :) (but naturally~! MCPs mostly and it has nothing to do with how much they are educated and how much they have traveled)

And I completely second Tarun. You SHOULD write a book ramesh! You are really really good.

Ramesh said...

@zeno - Oh yes there are some very good organisations. Unfortunately they are a very small minority.

@Tarun - Thanks for the kind words. Hope it doesn't get into my head :):)

@Preeti - Awww. As always you are so so kind.

J said...

It must feel so good to look back at your early posts and think back to how you felt then as people responded and new people joined in. Congrats! Very nice collection and I enjoyed reading them all.

Ramesh said...

@J - Gee thanks.

Reflections said...

I'm so glad u took up the tag & I got a chance to read many of ur posts which I missed.

And heart the Women in Indian Business post!!!

gils said...

thala...u prove the saying..form is temporary..class is permanent :) actualla this tag wud've been easy one for u...unga ella postsum fit every adjective given there..so randoma naalu post poatalay matter over :) problem of plenty..but who is complaining :) we want more :))

suloooooooooooooooo! said...

lots happening here, isnt it? i shall be back soon :)

Ramesh said...

@Reflections - What you start, can the others desist following. Even for tags ... :)

@gils - Classy comment :):)

@sulooooo - Was wondering where you had disappeared

Anonymous said...

ramesh,

thanks for the fun reading.....

Merry Xmas to you

Trevor

Ramesh said...

@Trevor - Merry Christmas to you too.

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