November 7, 2011

Photo-happy in Mumbai

This bag-lady with upwardly mobile aspirations has my imagination whizzing on overdrive. Questions of the "I wonder ... " type keep bubling up in my mind every time I see this photo. I wonder why she chose that car to snooze on. And this was in quite a posh neighbourhood, armed to the teeth with security-men who delight in exercising their powers so I wonder why no one turned up to shoo her off.
Or maybe they recognised a kindred soul ... overworked, tired and just aching for a quick shut-eye.
But on that car ...? The way she's scrunched up, it doesn't even look very comfortable .

The streets of Mumbai are such a perfect source for the most interesting stories! I've been tucking a camera into my bag almost every time I go out, to be whipped out whenever I see something interesting (much to the embarassment of my children). Which is just about every other minute. Most of those photos will never see the light of day because travelling at high speed on potholed roads almost always result in blurred photos.

I wonder when I'll be stopped by some suspicious soul to be quizzed on why I'm photographing some structure or monument or whatever. Imagine trying to explain blogging to someone who isn't very familiar with computers in the first place!

September 3, 2011

Write like a Booker winner?

I write like Margaret Atwood?
Whoa! .... before anyone thinks I've got delusions of grandeur take a look at this.

There's this fun new analytical tool out there specially for all of us bloggers and writers who may have pangs of doubt about the quality of our writing. Go to I Write Like and Copy-Paste a sample of your writing. It could be an excerpt from your blog or your diary or a few lines of doggerel .... just make sure its not your shopping list (though some of us are pretty creative with that too). The site analyses it and draws comparisons to famous writers.
So I copied out a few paras from one of my blog-posts and this the result I got. And since I'm the suspicious sort, I copied some paras from another blog-post ... and, same result. Time to celebrate?

Try it out, it's the greatest ego-boost ever.
Fun? Definitely!
Inspiring? When your writing is compared to that of a Booker winner (and winner/finalist/ nominee of just about every literary award there is) .... are you kidding me?!

I hope my publisher is reading this!


I write like
Margaret Atwood

I Write Like by Mémoires, journal software. Analyze your writing!


(Absolutely no guarantees on the accuracy of the results but it's sure to make you feel good)