I’m a Social Media Entrepreneur, Professor of Digital Marketing, Author of 9 books, Podcaster and an Organic Farmer.
Reuters has an excellent writeup about ExtraBed.in, a simple wiki based site that helps bloggers crash in each other’s houses. Tony Tarakan, the author of the article, did a good job. The advantage of the article appearing in news agency like Reuters is that it gets picked up by many publications. Many folks write in expressing their interest to join in without realizing that it is a wiki and that they don’t need anyone’s permission to join in.
It’s a meeting I won’t forget in a long time.
Chandrababu Naidu lived up to my expectations and beyond. What impressed me most was his willingness to learn. That’s an awesome quality to posses and for someone who is perennially busy, you have to appreciate that quality even more.
For those new here, I was invited by Chandrababu for a meeting. He wanted to know the latest happenings in New Media and what best can be used effectively to support his plans. I’m not at liberty to explain the nitty grittes but you have to give it to this man for his vision.
In the 40 minutes meeting that we had, he would listen very intently. The fact that he is passionate about the subject was encouragement for me. He would stop me at a certain places and ask me to explain better. He could add a few points on what they have done so far and what’s been the result.
We were supposed to have our meeting at 2:00 PM. After waiting for a little while at his residence, his secretary informed that our meeting would be pushed to 7:00 PM because he had to get into a crucial meeting. In a way, I was a bit relieved. I usually don’t get overawed by celebrity status but I have to agree that I was a wee bit tensed. The break did good.
I came back to his residence later in the evening and this time I was quite at home. Maybe it had to do with the fact that I’m coming to his home the second time and it may be the familiarity factor that eased me. While waiting, I had a hearty conversation with his Chief Security Officer and some key aides and that helped as well.
The meeting took place as scheduled and it went quite well. Personally I thought I aced it. Mr.Naidu must’ve liked the meeting too ‘coz he invited me to be come in as an adviser and co-ordinate with his team to work on certain key projects. It’s an honor to work with him and I was only happy to accept.
The meeting may have lasted just 40 minutes but the memory will live on for a lifetime.
Today, I was invited to judge the group discussion contest at the Inter-Collegiate Literary Competition called ‘Antheneum’ at MOP Vaishnav College. For me, it took me back to my college days. Whilst at college, I was quite active in ‘culturals’ and was part of the core team that started ‘Halcyon’, our Inter-collegiate extravaganza. It still continues till date, 13 years after we started it. Something I take a lot of pride in.
The first of the two topics that I chose for the GD was “Twenty20 or Test Match: Which is the superior form of Cricket?”. The other was “Marriage is a social trap: Agree or Disagree?”. Each college had two representatives and one had to speak for the topic and the other against.
The event saw some really bright students who were highly opinionated, something that’s super critical during a group discussion. Some students were downright bad which made me wonder how did they even get selected to represent their college.
The audience was super enthusiastic and overall it was an event that I enjoyed.
Pictures from the event.
Here is an awesome group of people that impress me. These are the folks who don’t stop at cribbing about the infrastrcture problems in the city, but have gone beyond to find a solution. And what’s more, they offer to help out themselves.
It’s quite simple. Find a pothole? Fix it.
That’s exactly what a bunch of folks did during the Independence day. They chose a pothole ridden road in Velachery and worked the entire night to fix the potholes. What’s impressive is that these folks pitched in money from their own pockets to buy the materials needed. That’s some commitment.
The first program was a success, judging by the kind of positive response it has received from the area residents and the press coverage. The team is motivated to do an encore and this time they have chosen the Anna Road in Thiruvanmiyur.
The pothole fixing program starts tonight at 9:00 PM and will go on till about 2:00 in the wee hours. If you’d like to join in, call Vijay Anand at 98941 01373.
Learn more about the initiative at http://pothole.pbwiki.com. It would be awesome if the spirit spread around to other cities as well.