Archive for the ‘BOTF’ Category

Bloggerati of the Fortnight: Rati Tehri Singh

Monday, December 19th, 2011

RatiOur blogger of the fortnight, Rati Tehri Singh, dons many hats as a modern professional. She is currently engaged as the Director with an MBA preparation website where she works full time and administers blogs and websites that dole out study materials. Amidst all this, she also runs a highly acclaimed blog that caters to her hobby (makeup and cosmetics) via her blog ‘Indian makeup and beauty blog’. And she excels in that as well!

In her own words, Rati’s journey into the glitzy world of cosmetics began right after her marriage when she discovered that there is very little available on the blogosphere that exclusively addresses the Indian makeup scenario. Seeing it as an untapped opportunity to provide a comprehensive insight into Indian makeup for most women, Rati, took up the initiative to share her understanding of the market place.

Most of the posts on the blog are attributed to her personal experiences with a particular brand. A plethora of make-up products ranging from eye-liners, mascaras, foundations to lip-gloss, face masques, bronzers, nail polish etc. are reviewed. This provides a detailed insight for a first time usage to recommendations according to skin tone and other prerequisites to arrive at a purchase decision.

Another interesting aspect of her blogs is that wherever possible, she has given the pros and cons of the product. This gives a very brilliant and true review of each product. Also, it gives the pricing of most of the products there by letting the reader evaluate the product more personally. We also love her rating scheme which is a excellent summary of the entire review.

Rati has also used her blog to educate people on how to achieve a particular look through make up. Along with few other writers, a dedicated section on tutorials about perfect skin tone, festival looks and star looks is maintained.

All the entries are ideally supplemented with pictures of products, their packaging and a personal take by Rati herself. Written in a crisp and an easy to read manner, it gives out most relevant information in an organized format making it a very convenient read for the surfer. All this entitles Rati to be our Bloggerati of the Fortnight.

Read more from our Blogger of the Fortnight gallery.

Bloggerati of the Fortnight: K. Satyanarayan

Monday, December 5th, 2011

K.Satyanarayan_PrayatnaA prominent name in Media and Publishing industry, Mr. K. Satyanarayan is deeply involved in the field of education and entrepreneurship. Mr. Satyanarayan was instrumental in setting up Cricinfo India before it merged with Wisden in 2003.

His blogs, Education in India, offers a distinct platform for academicians and others alike who seek information about the latest happenings in the education industry. From posts on grass root level primary education issues and scopes to changing scenarios in education across states to technology and seminars held at national levels, his blogs cover the spectrum of education like no other.

Most of the posts are direct insights and information that are made available in the simplest of manner. With a no frill and simple outlook, the blog provides information on issues such as admission into institutions, schools, submission procedure, constitutional amendments in the field of education etc.

His blog is also a great place to come across various articles on education from across the web. In fact, so detailed is his research that he has even gone to the extent of providing the information on education as debated in the parliament.

In his other blog he talks about his current industry, Media and Publishing, wherein the sustainability and growth prospects of various Indian languages are addressed. The prolific growth of Indian writers of books in English language vis-à-vis the dwindling number of writers who write in vernaculars is just one of the areas where he shares his views on.

Mr. Satyanarayan charts out the growth of education in India for the future generations through his simple writing style which is a mix of first person narrative and a third person account of happenings in and around the industry. Working tirelessly with complete dedication towards such a noble cause surely entitles Mr. K. Satyanarayan to be our Bloggerati of the Fortnight.

Read more from our Blogger of the Fortnight gallery.

Bloggerati of the Fortnight: Manish Chauhan

Tuesday, November 15th, 2011

JagoInvestor-Manish-Chauhan1If you have been reading about personal finance and financial planning on the internet, you probably know Manish Chauhan. Manish writes about financial planning at Jagoinvestor.com. He is one of the few people who has been writing about financial planning for a long time  and is furthering the cause of the small investor – a cause that is very close to his heart.

Manish started writing in Dec 2007. He likes to refer his area of work as Financial Planning rather than Personal Finance, because not only does he write on products and their reviews, but mostly on psychology required for successful financial planning and what a common person lacks, how he perceives any financial information and thinks about it .

According to Manish, “the biggest mistake people make is that they don’t value its importance in their Life, they don’t understand that Its extremely crucial in their life. I personally feel that by doing you Financial Planning, your success in your professional life and personal life becomes more valuable and easy because an important part of your life is taken care of and now you are free to take charge of other areas .”

While the subject that Manish writes about may be complicated, his writing itself is simple and easy to follow. This is a key element towards making Manish such a successful blogger. Here are few must reads as suggested by Manish himself:

Manish is fond of cooking, trekking and he likes to watch lots of TV sitting on his tongue shaped beanbag. After having authored hundreds of articles and answering over 20,000 queries in last 3 years, he has greatly contributed to the society. And for this, we proudly declare him as our Bloggerati of the Fortnight.

More treasures from our Blogger of the Fortnight series.

Bloggerati of the Fortnight: Urvashi Devidayal

Tuesday, November 1st, 2011

Urvashi DevidayalHaving worked for a climate change organization for some time, Urvashi Devidayal has had a firsthand experience of how the world perceives this topic. According to her, while many people are starting to understand the jargon – very very few people actually are able to implement a sustainable life. Her blog, sustainability in my house, is an attempt at setting that wrong, right.

Through her blog, she tries to introduce simple concepts about sustainable living which can be implemented in daily life by everyone. Her growing up in Mumbai and her current stint in the city

makes her believe she was lucky to have seen quite an environmentally friendly, natural and a much healthier childhood. There were fewer chemicals, no plastic and fewer hormones pumped into food and yet everyone lived very happy healthy lives.

Urvashi insists that there are a number of ways to go back to the basics and learn from our families about the more natural ways of living a healthier life. She gives simple examples for the same. A case in point is “an egg and reetha used to be perfectly great to wash hair as compared to a chemical based shampoo.”

She does agree that life is more complicated today and change will be slow in coming. But she is quite convinced that the journey will lead to many discoveries, some easy to implement and some not so. And it is these discoveries that Urvashi has dedicated her blog to. Finding ways to buy the right products locally and also discovering some great family secrets to staying healthy!

Also, she has taken the pains to explain what various terms related to sustainability mean. Her endeavor is to make everyone understand the importance of the issue, not just know about it. According to her, every individual effort will lead to a mass sustainable environment. And for this noble thought, Urvashi Devidayal, is our bloggerati of the fortnight.

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

Bloggerati of the Fortnight: Vincent D’Souza

Saturday, October 15th, 2011

vincentTravel, photography, food, technology, economics, sport are some of the most common blogging subjects. But every now and then we come across a blog that is simply outstanding. The simplicity of a quiz blog may not match the visual standards of a photo or food or travel blog, but the content is simply unbelievable.

Quiz Master Vincent Augustine D’Souza is a blogger, author, and novelist. What we are more interested in is the blog post that he comes up on the Go 4 Quiz. Go 4 Quiz is a blog site he has created for trivia, public quizzes, general knowledge quizzes, Q&As etc.

Not that these are not available online, it is the compilation of varied topics that makes this blog so much more fun. Users can spend hours taking one quiz after another without getting bored. And while they are at it, the knowledge that they will get in unimaginable.

The range of topics covered in his blog goes from animals and countries to discoveries and sports and anything on which a quiz can be created. Some of the questions can leave you quite stumped too. A good example of this is the India quiz, where a lot of questions are deceptively simple looking but tricky to answer.

                     Quiz

INDIA QUIZ

The fun of the site is not just the sheer volume of content it provides, but also the vast information that is bestows upon the reader. While we could debate about kids being on internet and how prudent is the idea, it is blogs like Go 4 Quiz that makes you think how powerful the tool can be.

And for this might effort of making the internet look like a safe bet with kids as well as any other user, we are proud to announce Vincent D’Souza as our Bloggerati of the Fortnight.

To read more from our blogger of the fortnight series, click here.

Bloggerati of the Fortnight: Anshul Tewari

Thursday, September 15th, 2011

ATA journalism student for life, a blogger by choice and a social entrepreneur that is how our Blogger of the Fortnight, Anshul Tewari would like to be known. Anshul founded youthkiawaaz.com in 2008 to voice his opinion about the social and political scenario in our country. Today, youthkiawaaz.com is India’s largest online platform for the youth to express themselves on issues of critical importance.

After having worked with leading national and international media houses, Anshul took blogging and social entrepreneurship to a whole new level and successfully so. He created this excellent platform for students and the youth in general to express themselves- a feat that is remarkable considering Youth Ki Awaaz has hundreds applying for internships every month.

With an editorial board of 12, executive team of 5, about 600 writers, correspondents, freelancers, student journalists from around the world, youthkiawaaz.com is today a registered media firm. Anshul also runs a research organization called Youth Research India.

Anshul has been a part of various national and international social enterprises and has been the driving force behind the cause, working on all aspects of the organization, from content and editing, to the executive aspects. This passion is reflected in the posts that come up on the blog. Hand picking every member of the team so that each of them share the same enthusiasm about the cause they are about to take on has maintained the rise of blog’s credibility.

Youth Ki Awaaz was awarded the Best Blog on Social Causes in India, and has won various other awards including the World Summit Youth Award for best practices in online journalism, by the International Center for New Media (ICNM) in 2010.

A graduate in Journalism from Delhi University, Anshul has worked with the Indian Express, The Financial Express and the Wall Street Journal India, online. He says, “Social change is not something that can happen instantly. It takes the effort of one entire generation to make sure that the next generation sees a better world.” And for putting in this effort, Anshul Tewari is our Bloggerati of the Fortnight.

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

Bloggerati of the Fortnight: Paavani Bishnoi

Friday, September 2nd, 2011

She is a dreamer and a nature lover who is an industrial designer and into colors. She is also a Photographer, tweeter, trends spotter, toy & game designer but above all, a blogger par excellence. That is how our blogger of the fortnight, Paavani Bishnoi can be described.

A post graduate in Industrial Designer from National Institute of Design (Ahmedabad, India) and bachelors in Information Technology, Paavani is an avid blogger. Blogging since early 2003, Paavani loves exploring the unseen with camera lens and at times experimenting with edibles items in her kitchen and if there is a mood swing, she also indulges in instant poetry.

But what is amazing about her blog is that it covers a plethora of topics. Right from advertising and brands to designing and poetry. Not the one to shy away from anything, Paavani has gone on to give quite an in-depth review of technology products such as mobile phones and also written about category facts for Indian Potato chips market.

Not that people don’t write about these sectors, it is the fact that while she writes crystal clear analytic posts on such topics here travel posts are poetic and dreamy. “Spending two days at -15 degree in Finland was really freezing. But I liked Helsinki, it was warm in an unknown way.”

Paavani is the first to accept that she is not a poet by nature but more of instantaneous poet. She describes that her poems are born out of sudden connect with few words which she then weaves in to a flow and produces a master piece.

बारिशेदांज

आँसू बहूमूलय या बारिश की बूँद,कया पता
गरज कर बरसे,या चुपचाप हूए लापता।
वो बडती धङकन थी, या बिजली की कङक
दूर छूपे है इतने जहॉ ना जाती कोई सडक।
सूनहरी धूप से झाँकते रूई के गौलौं
हाथौ से ना पकङौ, नजरौ से टटलौ।

Like most bloggers, Paavani too is a clever photographer. Her images come across as true and genuine by themselves. They are like an artist’s inner most thoughts being projected to the world.

                         a-journey

It is the sheer brilliance of Paavani that her blog can narrate on so many topics with such ease and comfort that the reader feels he is being exposed to an expert’s opinion in every field that the blog touches upon. Not many can achieve this level of writing and for that Paavani Bhisnoi is our Bloggerati of the Fortnight.

Get to know more of our Bloggers of the Fortnight.