Writing prompts

Namesake…

| Subhash

“What’s in a name? that which we call a rose
By any other name would smell as sweet.” – William Shakespeare

I am a great admirer of William Shakespeare and wherever you find this quote to its contrary you find his name written beneath.If you had the choice, would you rename yourself or stick to your name?

Name delivered with Love @https://agileopedia.com/
Name handled and delivered with Love @https://agileopedia.com/

People are very choosy when it comes to naming their children; some also celebrate this moment while some sects even have functions or ceremonies defined for the purpose of naming a baby.

I am sure parents across the world are equally excited when a new one joins the family and are excited to choose a name wisely.

As far as India is concerned it plays very important part in almost all religions and across all genres of society. We spend considerable amount of time in researching the new comer’s name. Trivial techniques consist of seeking advice from elders and asking your family and friends for suggestion.

The factors which are usually considered while naming in this part of the world are:

  • Unique: It should be as unique as possible; no one should have heard it before. People end up keeping complex name for their babies owing to this at times difficult to pronounce.
  • Meaningful:  Name should have a proper meaning. Most of the time name is not a proper noun.
  • Holy: Try to name your baby after the name of God/Goddess like Radha, Krishna, Sia etc.
  • Nickname: In a majority of the cases this name gets derived over time by what most people start calling you when you were born. This is contributed by Grandparents, parents, siblings and neighbors. It is too late when you realize that your baby has got a name.  This is name by which the new born will be known for the rest of his life to his entire family and friends and neighbors. There may be more than one nickname.It is associated with a lot of love and tied with sweet memories.
Key chain bearing name @https://agileopedia.com/
Key chain bearing my name @https://agileopedia.com/

My name(Subhash) too has a very special significance and at the same time it holds a very high regard in the society. I will go ahead in explaining about this.

1- Meaning

If I break it up it will split in:

Subhash – Su + Bhash

It consists of

Su – it means beautiful, good or well. It is used in conjuction with greeting like Subh Ratri ( Good night), Subh Din( Good Day) Subh Diwali (Happy Diwali).

Bhash – it means well spoken language or speech.

So combining the two, Subhash implies a person who is very well spoken.

2-Namesake

I have a namesake, a person who played a very significant role in liberating India. Reference is to the freedom fighter Netaji Subhash Chandra Bose, as my parents were a big follower of his so they named me after him. Netaji holds a place of great respect and esteem in the Indian society and he is regarded as the founder of INA.

I am proud of my name and always take with a pride and love to keep it, thanks Mom and Dad for this nomenclature. It will always remind me of the fact:

  1. To be well spoken
  2. To remember Netaji
  3. Remind me of my Mom and Dad.

Thanks for taking the time to read this and let me know your namesake.

Special thanks to 6 year old daughter  Pearl who helped me to photograph the key chain despite her busy morning schedule to compete with the school bus in the morning, Love you baby.

 

Eat to Live or Live to Eat

| Subhash

Do you eat to live or love to eat? Will you travel to enlighten your taste buds.

We (calling out all who are reading this) are all fortunate in this world to have food at our disposal.  I am thankful that I get to eat in all quarters.

Being from India which offers a diverse eating option in every mile you travel it is sad that I am not a foodie, well I admit I take what is offered and don’t go for a food hunt spree.

Parantha
Delicious Parantha with a lot of home made cream

 

Traditional food served in plates made out of leaves and a canopy arrangement for dining out.

 

Display of food items outside a Traditional Japanese restaurant @https://agileopedia.com/
Traditional restaurant in Japan @https://agileopedia.com/

 

Travel
Travel the distance

However I will definitely not travel for food, may be I am not that passionate.

holy Water at the Nikko Shrine
Holy Water from natural spring in Japan

I say very often that there is nothing like water after having some and a few have started to like it. Nothing quenches our thirst and longing when you are badly in need of some water.

Let us thank all the people involved in doing the most serious business around the world – “Cultivating Food” and helping millions of us alive. Seriously I am thankful and respectful to every farmer, dairy worker or anyone who is connected in bridging the gap from the farm to the our arm. We owe a big thank you to everyone out there.

Enjoy and lots of love, kisses and blessings

Blogging Unplugged

| Subhash

How do you power up and super charge your blog. I wrote a similar post to the daily prompt on o6th Nov 2014 here.

IMG_1130
Power Writing or Writing Power

Let me share again a few tips which for sure will be helpful:

  1. Blog Category or Voice: Do you have a particular reason for starting your blog. People blog about photography, cooking tips, parenting, motivation and other stuff. So although this may sound implicit but it is very important for one to realize the sole motto why he is here, why am I writing the posts in the blog. Once you have a vision for your blog half of your battle is won.
  2. 1 % Rule: I read this a few months back and it is very motivating, just do 1% daily of your goal. This means at the end of the month you will achieve 30%. so in other words you can make 30 posts a month. Believe me this is possible, just give a try.
  3. Simple Sharing: Your post doesn’t need to be out of the world or a first time read for the world. Share what you know, what you have heard, what your Mom,Dad, Granny or Kid has told you or your experiences with them.You may find it trivial but there are many people out there for whom it will be a first time read, they will love it. So get rid of this belief – “I may be writing about trivial facts’. Share your experience of a book you read or a movie you saw recently, trust me people will love to read your summary and the way you have shown your interpretation skills. Be simple in writing your posts, you need not showcase your oxford dictionary skills and use the most complex words to leave your readers Google about it. Being simple will help you connect with others.
  4. Reading: One of the most important trait is to read what others are writing. Also indulge in reading stuff from other bloggers. This will help your creative imagination to divulge, you will gather more ways to coin your voice. Some good blogs which are very active and you can take inspiration from:
    1. http://ceenphotography.com/ – Photography blog and organises Daily and weekly photo challenges.
    2. http://judydykstrabrown.com – Unique mixing of poetry in posts.
    3. http://angloswiss-chronicles.com/ – Excellent creative writing and story telling.
  5. Buy Time: This one is the toughest part. I am thankful to GOD that he has blessed everyone with 24 hours, rich, fat, slim or tall all human beings are having the same time boundary. It is crucial how you plan your time, so be good in your planning and ask yourself when is the best time to do some scribbling in your post. Indeed I have to buy time from my wife, kid, office and friends to post. Morning hours works for me.
  6. Thoughts for a post: You might be having some fix time for your bog, however the best thoughts come to me at stranger times, when I am sipping a coffee in the evening, taking a bath or listening a song. Recollect your thoughts before posting, make a list of topics which came to your mind which you believe could make a good new post.
  7. Writing Prompts: Follow daily writing prompts, it will help you initially to write even in topics in which you are not comfortable. This brings us out of the comfort zone.
  8. Read what you write: Before you hit the Publish button or even after that read your post once, does it make an appeal to you. What you did not like to read, you shouldn’t expect others to read it.
  9. Be Happy: Be happy, chase your dreams and ambitions – what I want to convey is, create positive vibes by your post, talk about some skills, your photographic or your poetic side. There is a lot of negativity around. People are genuinely not interested to read about it, Be the happy person to post and soon you will be the catalyst to create a ripple of happiness like a stone thrown in still water creates ripples.
  10. Stop worrying: Stop thinking what will people think about me when they read my post. Start writing first and let others do the thinking. We should not worry about actions which are beyond our control. This is a single reason which is killing the dreams of millions – “The worlds biggest fear, what they will say my dear”.Bury your worries and be free from fear of others,, create trust in yourself and you will be rocking not only in your blog but wherever you are.
  11. Engage and interact with others.
  12. Respect comments on your blog and also be kind to leave a word in other posts which you like.

So just get going and set your post rolling out.

If you want to be heard speak up

| Subhash

Amongst the many fears that co-exist in our life is the fear of Glossophobia. It is is the fear of public speaking or speaking in discussions. People are reluctant and find it hard to lead the conversations, get involved into conversations or coin their opinion. Largely one of the reasons is their introvert nature which would confine them in getting involved or beginning a conversation.

If you want to be heard speak up – Bill Cosby.

If-you-want-to-be-heard
Speak up… to be heard.

Going by the popular quote it is true that speaking is an excellent attribute in both personal as well as professional life. It requires you to take initiatives by leading the talk. One can easily practice and change his ways to be an effective speaker and gather attention. In my opinion to begin with this, the key is to start socializing, talk to more people around you and try to do small chit chat when you reach office, rather than landing at your desk and leaving on time and talking to your restricted few with whom you feel comfortable. You will realize that there is a wide world waiting to be explored around you, you might discover someone who shares the same passion on photography like you. Just break the jinx.

Presenting trainings and seminars over the past few years has taught me a lot in starting them, dealing with the audience and to closing it successfully.

After attending one of the programs I was not satisfied with the training; I decided to create my own tailored program on the subject and coordinated with the stakeholders regarding my plans and rolled it out. It was a huge success and after 2-3 sessions of 4 hrs I started full day sessions. The biggest success lies in the fact when people leave the program with a value add and satisfaction and it is always good to gather their thoughts and next steps after the session.

I learned a lot over all these years since then and have been leading many programs with enthusiasm.

The following aspects should be kept in mind when you plan to take up trainings/seminars or lead the talk:

  1. Be a master of your topic
  2. Break the ice and engage the audience
  3. Listen patiently
  4. Interact with people
  5. Don’t let the session run out of your hand, interrupt where required.
  6. Take feedback and monitor value add and work on continuous improvement based on it. It also opens another window of ideas from the participants.
  7. A lot of passion! – If you are not passionate in the topic you are handling you will definitely mess it up.

When I started seminars, I was always comfortable to speak to an audience with all strangers, so the song from Pink Floyd Is there anybody out there, always used to jingle in my mind. There was definitely a sense of strange fear and anxiety when I saw a known face sitting in the audience. However as you progress it does not come in between and after some experience it ceases to exist.

Doctors know this feeling very well as they are more confident when they operate a patient not known to them rather when someone close to them is under the knife.

Thanks for reading, share your opinions too would be good to read about it and explore everyone’s view, love you all, lots of kiss and hugs.

Right Here Right Now…

| Subhash

Right here right now is the perfect time to do everything.

Get up get going rock the world because it’s the time to do right now or never.

Right Here Right Now - http://agileopedia.com/
Right Here Right Now – Do it now or never

Enjoy the fragrance of life

IMG_0378
Enjoy the fragrance of life…

Right now Milk a Cow

IMG_0400
Right now Milk a Cow – http://agileopedia.com/

Enjoy a dance party or host one.

Enjoy a dance party - http://agileopedia.com/
Enjoy a dance party – http://agileopedia.com/

Take your favourite ride.

Take your favourite ride - http://agileopedia.com/
Take your favourite ride – http://agileopedia.com/

Right now play an adventure sport.

Right now play an adventure sport - http://agileopedia.com/
Right now play an adventure sport – http://agileopedia.com/

Enjoy a puppet show right now

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Enjoy a puppet show right now – http://agileopedia.com/

Right here play your favourite music instrument

Right here you need to play your favourite music instrument - http://agileopedia.com/
Right here play your favourite music instrument – http://agileopedia.com/

Enjoy the Masala Food and add spice to your life.

Enjoy the Masala Food and add spice to your life. - http://agileopedia.com/
Enjoy the Masala Food and add spice to your life. – http://agileopedia.com/

Dance in the rain…

ain
Dance in the rain – http://agileopedia.com/

Listen live to your favourite band right now

Listen to your favourite band live right now - http://agileopedia.com/
Listen to your favourite band live right now – http://agileopedia.com/

Enjoy your favourite drink right now.

 

Enjoy your favourite drink

Enjoy your favourite drink right now.

 

Get your hands dirty on cooking right now –

Get your hands dirty on cooking right now - http://agileopedia.com/
Get your hands dirty on cooking right now – http://agileopedia.com/

 

Take the perfect selfie or velfie right here right now, until you succeed.

IMG_0471
Take the perfect selfie or velfie right here right now, until you succeed. – http://agileopedia.com/

 

Listen to this song right now – trust me

Trust me – so that you can experience the best video on survival of the fittest right now.

Do it now or regret forever….

What If…?

| Subhash

If you could permanently get rid of one worry, what would it be?

What If @ http://agileopedia.com
What If @ http://agileopedia.com

If really I could get rid of one worry, that one would definitely be “What If”. 

What if the deal is cancelled, what if it rains and plays a spoiler, what if I get late for the show. What if I take too much of calories, what if I go for a log drives and my car has a break down and the list goes on and on and on….

Half of  the world would be free from worries if the what if analysis is left only for the MIS guys.  the MIS, Sales and marketing teams use What If reports to forecast and take conclusive decisions which could affect the business outcome in a positive financial direction.

Live a life that is outburst and have a Plan B for when plan A fails, so in short don’t do a lot of analysis on every aspect of life as it leads to paralysis.

Let us give our life the tangent to swing high and be free from the What If’s and put the last nail on it now.

Happy Posting Month #NaBloPoMo

No Time to Waste…

| Subhash

Life is too short to keep cribbing over small things, be content with what you have and enjoy it to the fullest.

People who always crib about what they don’t have, about their job, about office, about the neighbour, of not being given opportunity should refocus on their attitude towards life.

Life is too short either keep on cribbing and cursing your life or stand up, create the opportunities, chase your goals and be what you want to be. We all are blessed with 24 hours and God has given us enormous gifts, these gifts lie within us, it is time we realize that we are always in a much better position than millions, stay positive and explore our best potentials which are hidden within us. Imagine its like you receive a gift and you don’t use it – Gifts are not meant to be kept wrapped, so unlock your wrapper and explore the gifts within – your power of creativity, wisdom, leading, presentation, drawing, singing, cooking, whatever you are best at and win the world.

Stay surrounded with positive people and good friends. Once I was having a chat with the Vice President of an MNC who had a quick rise to success. He narrated since he started his career and climbed every step of the corporate ladder he had many hands(mentors or coaches) which he could hold to climb up. It was for him to decide which hand he needs to hold to get to the next level, He was fortunate enough to hold the faithful hands and climb the ladder efficiently. We can rectify our destiny by our choices and unleash a world of opportunities by taking the correct decision. This is only possible when you are content and having a peace of mind which in turn enables to do the next level of proper planning and execution.

So lets stop cribbing and remember:

“Be the change that you wish to see in the world” – Mahatma Gandhi

Happy posting month #NaBloPoMo

Destination Anywhere!!!

| Subhash

Where is the one place you would never want to go on vacation that other people seem to love?

I will start this post with one of my favorite Jon Bon Jovi numbers “Destination Anywhere“, it came rocking to my mind with this prompt.

Darlin’, I’m tired of living just in your dreams ,I’m getting out
You know we both sold our souls,We’re just growing old in this sleepy, dead-end town.

Destination Anywhere!!! Name a place and I ‘ll be there, pack your bags and we disappear.

Vacations are meant to provide:

  1. A Break from daily chores, per se from office, kids from school and home.
  2. A time to connect with family and friends.

This in turn helps us gives us a fresh lease of life.

What destinations to choose:

1-In Nature’s Lap

I choose any destination stop as my vacation which is surrounded by natural beauty. I like to explore more towards the gift of God and delicacies nature has provided to us and spend time exploring them instead of going for exploring the most happening cities.

Exploring the Solitude of the beach

Exploring the Solitude of the beach @ http://agileopedia.com/
Exploring the Solitude of the beach @ http://agileopedia.com/

2-Cultural Diversity

Nikko Shrine Japan World Heritage Shrines @ http://agileopedia.com
Nikko Shrine Japan World Heritage Shrines @ http://agileopedia.com

Another interesting factor is to explore the diverse culture this world offers us. Every place, country,city has its own religion, food, culture, people, they have so much to offer. It is a wonder to get to know more about them. When I was in Japan I was fortunate to be there during the Golden Week, a week in which the country celebrates, it is their longest vacation period. I made the most of it by visiting the world heritage sites at Nikko, Lake Chuzenji, Kegon Falls and Yomoto Onsen(natural spa); exploring their cultures and closely watching some religious ceremonies and processions. I was very impressed by it.

Food Display in a Japanese Restaurants @ http://agileopedia.com
Food Display in a Japanese Restaurants @ http://agileopedia.com

I love to get surrounded by the serenity and beauty of the snow filled mountains, sitting by the river, lake or ocean, exploring the wild, watching the sunrise and sunset in the ocean, streaming in the backwaters.The Alps, Himalayas, The Andes to the Rocky mountains to Leh Ladakh all come under the list of places to visit. I would like to give them a priority followed by visiting the man made wonders from historic times to the sci fi ones.

Diya(earthen lamps) lit by devotees for worship to Goddess Durga, the God of Power.@ http://agileopedia.com
Diya(earthen lamps) lit by devotees for worship to Goddess Durga,the God of Power. @ http://agileopedia.com
Tokyo Tower at Night @http://agileopedia.com
Tokyo Tower at Night @http://agileopedia.com

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Very few people are aware about the Tokyo Tower and that it is taller than the Eiffel Tower.

A place which would never come under my radar – Huh, I think the thought of a desert scares me, the tough life, hot sand winds, I would be reluctant to be there – it is better to leave it to Bear Grylls and let him do it for us.

Happy Posting Month #NaBloPoMo

Do you consider yourself a “professional” blogger?

| Subhash

So are you a professional blogger?

Am I a professional blogger. I don’t know, I am a blogger first and then I let others decide whether its professional or not.

The point is, who is a professional blogger, is there a dictionary or a set of rules to be one.

Blogging is a passion for me and I improve as every day passes by, I have better ideas as I wrote each post. I am learning, and it is an empirical process for me which I believe will never end.

This habit of mine leads me to scribble my thoughts and share with everyone, I say to myself despite all odds I have to make it post-a-day.

There is a long way to go, a never-ending road so currently I would like everyone to post, post and post and don’t bother about being professional… following this chant, soon you will become professional.

Happy Posting Month #NaBloPoMo