Archive for the ‘BOTF’ Category

Bloggerati of the Fortnight: Subhorup Dasgupta

Thursday, August 16th, 2012

Subhorup

Current Position and Organisation:
Freelance Educator, Writer, Artist and Musician
Areas of Expertise:
Quality Assurance and Quality Systems; Training; Security systems; Human Resource Development; Blogging; Social Looping; Social Media Content; Corporate Communications; Web Design and Development; Digital Communications
Educational Background:
Bachelor of Arts in Comparative Literature from Jadavpur University
                                        Blog Name:  Subho’s Jejune Diet

A man who previously donned many hats as a copywriter, market researcher, addiction counselor, yoga instructor and a medical transcriptionist is the rare and eclectic Subhorup Dasgupta. After having touched upon many cities during his initial years, Subho, as he is fondly referred to as, by his friends and family, is now settled in Hyderabad. His blog is a planned venture with a single minded focus on helping others bring about a positive change in their lives.

Subho’s Jejune Diet, as Subhorup himself puts it across, is “a tested way to happiness, contentment and success in a world overrun by vanity and greed. This blog emphasizes the importance of what we feed on intellectually, spiritually, and emotionally.”

His posts are essentially documentation of his personal experiences and opinions on various subject matters that he had come to excel in over the years. The topics covered in the blog range from matters pertaining to health, treatment, cooking, natural food to counseling, creative arts, poetry et al and a lot more. As a true mark of someone who sticks to his beliefs and vision; justifying his blog title, Subho, writes with childlike curiosity that allows him to touch upon a vast expanse of matters and lucidity that resonates with its readers. For a seasoned writer who knows how to establish connect with his readers, he definitely emerges a winner.

Aesthetically, the blog is well laid out with clear sections and photographs assisting most posts. The blog template is not jarring to the eyes and makes for a smooth read. As far as the flow of the post is concerned, it’s compelling to say the least while the titles to his post are most catchy making sure that it grabs the eyeballs.

A blog title that reads as ‘simple thinking, responsible living, joyous being’ and the posts that most of us can relate to and admire without deviating attention, entitles Subhorup to be our Bloggerati of the Fortnight.

Click here to read more about our Blogger of the Fortnight series.

Bloggerati of the Fortnight: Sunil Deepak

Wednesday, August 1st, 2012

sunilCurrent Position and Organisation: Head, medical and scientific support at Italian Association Amici di Raoul Follereau – AIFO

Areas of Expertise: Medicine, history, art, writing, research, photography

Educational Background: University College of Medical Sciences (UCMS), New Delhi, India

Blog Name: Chayachitrakar

It is not always that one finds a doctor of high repute and stature who has an uncanny passion for art, environment, films, music, photography and archeology. Add to this repertoire, a genuine inclination to read and write. Sunil Deepak is one such individual who is a classic textbook amalgam of science and nature. What sets him apart from many in his field of work is an acute eye for observation.

His blog, Chayachitrakar, in its most rudimentary sense, is a photo-blog that is presented in quite a unique fashion. The blog employs 3 languages to communicate to its audience, namely – English, Hindi and Italian. The name of the blog (in Hindi) literally translates into ‘painter of shadows’ and justifies its name followed by actions. As Sunil puts it across himself, “My challenge is to find 3 images on the same theme for each post. To look at hundreds of images till I can find something that unites them is a wonderful exercise.”

Dr. Deepak has been traveling around the world for about a quarter of a century and by the sheer nature of his profession and association with an international organization, he has been able to visit the remotest corners of the world. From there on, it becomes only obvious for someone with a passion for photography to capture the stills and take away a piece of Earth every time he gets a chance.

In this blog of his, besides some of his other professional and personal blogs, Sunil reaches out to the audience and bridges the language gap between cultures by going multi lingual. The most appealing part about the post besides the photographs itself, is the title and description given out. First in English and then followed by Hindi and Italian gives it a unique touch. He in fact, takes it a step further in the ‘comments’ section where he replies to each comment posted by graciously replying in the same language. Aesthetically, the blog is quite well laid out and a simple non-flashy presentation makes for a good stay on the page for a first time visitor.

For a doctor whose main areas of work are leprosy and disability to maintain a photo blog that gives insights into the very fabric of diversity in man and nature, it is indeed commendable and this rightfully entitles Sunil to be our Bloggerati of the Fortnight.

Click here to read more about our Blogger of the Fortnight series.

Bloggerati of the Fortnight: Harleena Singh

Monday, July 16th, 2012

Harleena SinghCurrent Position and Organization:
Owner at Freelancewriter.co; Staff Writer at Health & Wellness Magazine; Freelance content writer at oDesk
Areas of Expertise:
Content writing, Editing, SEO related writing, News and press releases, Blogging
Educational Background:
Bachelor of Education in English and Commerce from Annamalai University; Master of Arts in English from Indira Gandhi National Open University; Bachelor is Commerce from Punjabi University
Blog Name: http://www.aha-now.com/

Someone who has mastered the art of writing for over a decade and enjoys the various roles that life has presented her with, Harleena, writes for the love of the written word. Her blog entails sharing her experiences of life as she knows it, usually engulfing a multitude of facets. She mostly writes about topics related to family and parenting, love and relationships, health and wellness and last but not the least, inspiration and self-improvement.

Each of her posts address a deep-rooted issue in our society that many of us face on a day to day basis. The manner in which it is presented is akin to that of a counsellor who has a deep understanding of life and its repercussions on an individual. Most topics that are dealt with are something which each individual faces at some point or the other in their lifetime. Be it issues related to dealing with children (parenting) or relationship between a couple or posts that are more holistic in nature as presented in ‘7 easy ways to find inner strength’ and the likes of it. Harleena has been able to touch a chord with most of her blog readers. Needless to say, comments and followers flock in plenty to appreciate her efforts.

Aesthetically speaking, the posts are always supplemented with a photograph and well articulated with highlights, quotes by famous names and often with videos, as and when she deems fit.

Her keen sense of gauging her audience and writing to appeal their senses has fetched her may accolades in the past and in keeping up with the spirit of blogging, she wins herself the title of our Bloggerati of the Fortnight.

Click here to read more about our Blogger of the Fortnight series.

Bloggerati of the Fortnight: Shivya Nath

Friday, June 15th, 2012

Shivya_Nath-croppedCurrent Position and Organisation:
Co-founder at India Untravelled
Areas of Expertise:
Social Media, Travel Writing, Blogging, Social Development, Social Networking Strategy
Educational Background:
Bachelors with high distinction Marketing and Economics from Singapore Management University
Blog Name:  The Shooting Star

Traveling across 15 countries and spanning 3 continents, Shivya, who quit her corporate job to pursue her passion for traveling, writes this travelogue with much dedication and passion. As is apparent from majority of her blog posts, Shivya has developed a keen sense akin to that of a wayfarer that is duly supported by her experience at working with various travel and tourism firms of international repute.

Her travel sojourns have rendered her style of writing a much credible voice. She writes in a manner of a story-teller, words carefully weighed and weaved in a pattern that eases and gives the reader a relaxed-read feeling. There are personal experience, handy tips, issues pertaining to solo-travel and other information well narrated and presented in various entries from time to time.

Aesthetically, the blog is well laid out. To begin with, most posts are ideally supplemented with photographs that are centric to the story. The welcome page has a cover photo that keeps changing; giving out snippets of one story at a time. Being quite popular in this genre of writing, there are a whole lot of recognitions that have been awarded to this blog that is modestly aligned to the right; furthermore reinforcing authenticity. The menu on top allows easy navigation to some of her works pertaining to thought bursts pertaining to offbeat travel, travel links and highly acclaimed publicized work.

Shivya has, through her blog, captured the ever-fascinating essence of traveling and effortlessly blended it with skillful writing and this is what gives us enough and more reasons to feature her as our Bloggerati of the Fortnight.

Click here to read more about our Blogger of the Fortnight series.

Bloggerati of the Fortnight: Priyanka Matanhelia

Tuesday, May 15th, 2012

Current Position and Organisation: Program coordinator at Johns Hopkins University; Adjunct Faculty at Johns Hopkins University
Areas of Expertise: Qualitative and Quantitative Analysis, Field Research, Focus Groups, Consulting, Teaching
Educational Background: Doctorate in Journalism and Public Communication from University of Maryland College Park; Masters in Communication Media from Shreemati Nathibai Damodar Thackersey Women’s University; Bachelors in Child Development from Delhi University
Blog: http://www.priyankasblog.com/

Just like many other bloggers from the same sphere of involvement, Priyanka’s blog is pretty much a reflection of the current times and essentially talks about various facets of Social Media and the use of mobile phones among the youth.

Most blog posts revolve around her areas of expertise as listed above. Interviews with experts and focus groups etc., pertaining to crucial issues faced by the communication industry in this digital age are centric to most of her blog posts. They are usually written in a first person narrative as she has been moderating most of these discussions. Video clips from the sessions are duly supplemented as and where applicable.

Her recently concluded dissertation on ‘Mobile Phone usage among the youth in India’ is up on one of her posts and the sheer number of downloads bear testimony to how intricately the subject matter has been observed and studied. Needless to say, this post counts as one of her most successful entries.

Besides this, the blog also serves as a medium to chronicle events from her personal life. Every once in a while there is a pleasant bit of poetry, culture, travel, romance etc. to break the monotony of Industry discussions. Her ability to make a mark on the blogosphere by uniquely showcasing an array of well distributed content entitles her to be our Bloggerati of the Fortnight.

Click here to read more from our blogger of the fortnight series.

Bloggerati of the Fortnight: Sanjeev Sabhlok

Wednesday, May 2nd, 2012

sanjeevCurrent Position and Organisation:
Honorary Member at Freedom Team of India;  Executive Director (Honorary) at India Policy Institute; Senior Manager, Better Regulation Unit at Department of Treasury and Finance, Government of Victoria (Australia)
Areas of Expertise:
Economic Policy, Project Management
Educational Background:
Graduate Diploma from Melbourne Business School; PhD in Economics from University of South Carolina (USC); Double Masters in Economics from USC & Panjab University; Bachelor of Science with honours in Mathematics from Guru Nanak Dev University
Blog Name: Sabhlokcity

Sanjeev’s blog is a repository of opinions pertaining to governance at most levels. His experience at various government offices, handling crucial policies and matters related to family, education, planning and development, art and culture, housing et al has earned him a place in two of the most libertarian policy organizations that he is currently engaged with.

Despite being settled in Melbourne, Australia, Sanjeev has kept the flame of revolution alive and is constantly working in close quarters to bring about a change in the Indian way of governance. His blog often reflects his strong and almost judgmental stands against various socio-political happenings. A look at few of his posts gives clear cut signs of an upheaval in an attempt to question several controversial findings and practices. The blog entries often shout out loud with an extensive use of highlights in yellow, key points marked in red and sections that demand special attention. His tonality in most posts is definitive (primarily based on strong logic), often borderline sarcastic and doubtful followed soon after by a close-ended solution to a stalemate situation.

Not just that, there are also dedicated tabs covering and addressing issues across varied topics such as climate, racism, god to ‘What would I do as Prime Minister’ and ‘Leaders, Fools and Knaves’ etc.

In a manner of speaking, his ability to blog about issues that speaks of a common man’s woes and being a voice of a nation that needs remedial actions at every step, entitles Sanjeev to be our Bloggerati of the Fortnight.

Click here to read more from our Blogger of the Fortnight series.

Bloggerati of the Fortnight: Siddhartha Vaidyanathan

Monday, April 16th, 2012

siddhartha_vaidyanathanSiddhartha Vaidyanathan, popularly known as Sidvee, is a journalist based out of greater New York City area. Having said that, to bracket Siddhartha as just a journalist would be a gross understatement. Sidvee, who has by now, already earned the distinction of contributing to Forbes, Chicago Journal, The Daily Telegraph and BBC world service is an avid cricket enthusiast. Something that doubles his credibility is the fact that he had previously held the position of an Assistant Editor at ESPNcricinfo for almost half a decade. He is currently engaged as a reporter with Bloomberg News. He has also been instrumental in setting up the popular quizzing platform on Twitter bearing the handle name @kweezzz, for general and brand specific quizzes.

Siddhartha’s blog www.sidveeblogs.wordpress.com is a reflection of someone who has nurtured the art of story-telling with a special focus towards cricket. This kind of skill only comes to someone who has a keen eye for detail. Each post forces the reader to visualize the game in its most intrinsic sense. Most importantly it makes one feel the sport, the religion that is cricket. . Unlike most bloggers, Siddhartha doesn’t make short posts over regular intervals. His posts come in every once in a while and are in form of short stories. His signature style of blogging is mostly narrative and based on hard facts.

In terms of aesthetics, the blog is simple, straight forward and clutter-free. Each post is characterized by a mast photograph that is akin to a Facebook cover photo before the actual tale commences. Pretty evident from his blog, it appeals to readers who are suckers for the written word. By the end of each post it makes sure, just like most stories do, a message is driven home and the reader leaves fully aware of what the writer intends to say. Such laden are the posts that almost all of them guarantee comments that run into long threads of interaction between him and the followers.

Although cricket is what most of his posts are about, few of them address his fondness towards other sports such as tennis and football too. Sidvee, sure is a connoisseur when it comes to blogging and his ability to provide us readers with the sheer joy of reading if not just romancing cricket entitles him to be our Bloggerati of the fortnight.