Belief...!

One day Mara, the Evil One, was travelling through the villages of India with his attendants. he saw a man doing walking meditation whose face was lit up on wonder. The man had just discovered something on the ground in front of him. Mara’s attendant asked what that was and Mara replied, “A piece of truth.”

 

 

“Doesn’t this bother you when someone finds a piece of truth, O Evil One?” his attendant asked. “No,” Mara replied. “Right after this, they usually make a belief out of it.”

Room Test...!?!

Q.: What is your favorite room in your home?

A. Bedroom 

B. Living room

C. Dining room

D. Bathroom

E. Kitchen

F. Balcony

G. Study or Den

H. None at all

Your answer will disclose your personality, the creator (of this test, not of the World...!) claims. So choose... no, not wisely but honestly if you want to find out who you really are...!?! And if you don't like the findings, don't blame me or the originator but try either changing the room or... yourself; the choice, as usual, is yours!

A. Bed Room: You are an imaginative and colorful character. You Believe in true love but until you find it, you'll have fun flirting. You attract people just by the way you talk. This can make insecure people feel jealous.

B. Living Room: You are sociable and enjoy talking to people. Whenever you have the opportunity, you'll help people. You don't shirk responsibility, and in fact enjoy taking on leadership roles.

C. Dining Room: You are conservative, cautious and don't panic in emergencies. You are an extrovert, and like sharing ideas with people. However, you also need to spend time alone to organize your thoughts.

D. Bath Room: You take good care of yourself and are concerned about your health. When you hear about any new illnesses, you start watching out for the first symptoms to appear. This can sometimes annoy your friends. However, you look at the world on the bright side, and this makes you quite popular.

E. Kitchen: Easygoing and altruistic, you are most happy when taking care of others. While at times you can be boisterous, you make people feel comfortable around you and they always seek your advice when they have problems.

F. Balcony: You love freedom and hate to be controlled. You want to walk away from all the rules and rely on your imagination to direct your life instead. When you need to reenergize yourself, you head to thebeach or to the forest.

G. Study or den: You take life seriously and like things to be neat and in order. Proud and dignified, you don't like to be mocked. You are a good listener even when you disagree with other people's ideas.

H. None at all: You are interested in the people around you and don't pay much heed to material goods. You are helpful and considerate to your family, and in return they love you dearly.

Dear Bapu...!

Optimization...!?!

With the explosion of another [dot]com boom and outburst of the Social Media tools, it definitely became imperative to think of Internet Marketing of your product/service or skill/talent. The digital and virtual ‘Profile’ is becoming the key to your presence on WEB – the most happening and interactive place of the 21^st century. Moreover, it is not just enough to create or have a profile page on the internet somewhere, it’s crucial for your marketing efforts that more and more visitors take a look at your web-presence in any form. The next step involves pinpointing the ‘Target Audience’ and inviting them to your page and engaging them by stimulating their interest levels and curiosity about what you have to offer. It would be little overambitious at the beginning to expect a response in form of any kind of feedback from all the visitors to your page, but it certainly is the fundamental objective of the entire internet marketing endeavour... isn’t it?

Here comes the gimmick called SEO or SMO into picture. ‘Search Engine Optimization’ or ‘Social Media Optimization’ are claimed to be the specialized services offered by some agencies that promise to empower your marketing strategy and increase visits (not results or business, mind you!) to your page in a period of 60 to 90 days. Alright, that’s quite fair... so, what’s the catch? Nothing! If you have the chunk of funds that you can spare and you have this gambling instinct to call blind shots without being very sure of what and how you are going to hit... absolutely no problem, go ahead with the best deal for a SEO or SMO of your ‘Profile’ with any agency near and dear to you!

Before you start to wonder ‘Does this all has to do with that little crack in my head’, I will try to make it little clearer where I am leading to. Would you mind me asking few questions without any obligation for you to answer...?

• Have you ever hired any professional to swim/surf/sail the sea for you? 
• Have you ever tried to lose/gain weight by watching ‘Slender blunder’ videos? 
• Have you ever tried to score good marks in any exam by copying or substituting? 
• Have you ever been to a psychological counselor to treat your neighbor’s behavior? 
• Do you dream to live a long/healthy/happy life because people claim to ‘Been there, done that?’

It is getting more and more bad and mad... isn’t it? It’s not, believe me! If you have ‘Yes’ for an answer to any, I repeat... ‘ANY’ of the above, you definitely need an agency for SEO and SMO...! You can close this tab and hunt for the best bargain you can get around. Good Bye!

However, by any chance, by any measure and by any standard, if you answered ‘NO’ to all, I repeat... ‘ALL’ of the above, Congratulations! You are qualified to read further...!

So you are the ‘Do it yourself types’, huh...? Good for you! Now, let’s take a closer look at WIIFM. Never heard of this...? Well, take down your first note of the first lesson – learn all the relevant acronyms as fast as you can! This was ‘What’s In It For Me’- The fundamental and eternal curiosity (not a question) that lays the foundation of any Marketing Strategy! Any breathing, thinking and ‘developing’ human being will have this in mind for virtually everything including other humans, trust me! Basic instincts that one can’t get rid of, you know! Let us leave behind the philosophy and get back to business... yes, that’s what it all is about!

In the series of 5 posts, I will try to explain what could be done, how to do it and why in this way, in the most simple language possible. However you will have to bear with little sarcasm, can’t help it!

Now to answer very first of your question – why am I doing this? – remember that little crack in my head? Well, at the outset, let me be very clear that I NEITHER OWN ANY SEO/SMO AGENCY NOR OFFER SERVICES FOR THAT. I am an independent consultant and I counsel people... mostly free! I have few clients who pay me in cash and kind at their free will and I am active on various discussion groups wherein people regard my opinion. You can check out all my links through http://about.me/manishpuranik This is absolutely at your discretion and NO CONDITIONS APPLY.

In recent months, I came across more and more concerned queries about this SEO/SMO thing from my clients, readers (?), followers (??) and counselees (???) who seemed to be eager about understanding this New-Age-P.R.O. (Note down – Public Relation Officer) to go for an informed decision, relying on me, as they prefer to do most of the time. This would have been another friendly gesture in good favour without any money involved (“we will pay to the SEO guy if we need to spend, stupid”), I decided to make it public and allow all the mortal souls to benefit (?) from this GYAN which, as it is, neither sacred nor secret anyway! That's it for today and you can look forward to some interestingly insightful stuff at this place when you visit again, if you do so at all.

Stay tuned and Keep Optimizing...!

BTW, take time to ponder a little on the last question and if you are not sure of your answer, try replacing 'Dream' with 'Plan'...! Now you got it...:)

Resolution…!

Since 'Today' is the First Day of the Rest of My Life, it deserves a little elaboration, I guess. And although it should not be a thanksgiving speech necessarily, I must express my gratitude for the attitude and considerate gesture of all my well-wishers who wished me through Email, SMS, Social Media and Phone Calls. Upon celebrating (?) another Birthday yesterday (What’s there in number, you can always do the math) I took a while to look at my life in retrospection. I won’t say I made some constructive, concrete or profound resolution or anything; but yes, I certainly thought of something that could change the course of my life. Although, according to the ‘progressive elaboration’ principle of PMP that states ‘the visibility of the end is less at the beginning’, I can see a very blurred picture of what I am trying to envisage. Still there are 5 things, for sure, that I would certainly strive to do…

 

1. Make most of my skills, knowledge, abilities and aptitude in the most ‘rewarding’ way.

2. Try to ‘cope with’ the situations for the most positive outcome yet continue being myself.

3. Focus on accepting, celebrating and enjoying 'rather than’ analysing, criticizing and elaborating.

4. Trying to make people ‘comfortable’ and be comfortable myself in the public & social situations.

5. Continue to live life to the fullest but never ‘expect’ it (or anything) to be fair, logical or explicable… always!

 

 

I very well understand and realize that it is extremely difficult for me to act upon all of these, but the dictionary meaning of difficult and impossible is different, I believe! Besides, I never had the inclination to do the mundane, simple, ordinary and commonplace things..! Well, this is it for now and I certainly would make it a point to make more frequent appearance at this place as I definitely am committed to the 'Be Cause'…!

 

Stay tuned and Celebrate the Resolution…!

An Appeal...!

Durga Shakti...!

There would be no Indian who doesn’t know the story of Birth of Lord Krishna. Although, how many who knew it, reflect upon it is a concern we will discuss some other time. Just to remind you the story, here is the most important and relevant part of it…

…Kansa the king of Mathura was an oppressor who had imprisoned his father in order to become the king. Devaki was Kansa’s sister and was married to a noble man Vasudeva. Kansa one day heard a heavenly voice saying, "Kansa, your days of tyranny are numbered and you will be killed by the eighth baby of Devaki." The terrified Kansa immediately imprisoned Devaki and Vasudeva. He did not want to take any chance and killed each and every child of Devaki at birth until the time came for the delivery of the eighth child. For the optimum safeguard Kansa increased the number of prison guards, kept strict vigilance and locked Vasudeva in chains. But God planned otherwise…

According to mythology, this was Dwapar Yug when the devils, however powerful they might be, were always outnumbered largely by the angels. And there were such divine beings as ‘Krishna’ upon who people could rest assured. The mythology might be over and the characters could be imaginary but the principles and philosophy of it is more applicable in this Kaliyug where we have Kansa in abundance and not a single Krishna to fight them. At such time if Durga – the Kali – tries to replace the Krishna it is the duty of the society to support her acts and deeds. After all it was the people only who lifted the Gowardhan, Krishna offered his little finger as moral support – ‘Yes, you can…!’
 

Today what brought me to this story is flashing news about Durga Shakti Nagpal, an IAS officer who is being humiliated by the rotten political forces and their lustful objectives. Also the judiciary system is trying to keep out of it with an alibi that it is the matter of State Government Administration. No, it is not. This is the matter of Corrupt Powers thrashing the Honest and Competent authorities those are trying to actually bring the change these hypocrite politicians used for elections for years. This is a National Issue for every Indian who works hard to earn his two meals and tries to live a respectable and honest life. These indecent and autocratic efforts must be condemned and buried before they get succeeded and people as well as media conveniently forget about them, as always…! 

It’s high time… really very high time. Enough whistle blowing, it’s time for action… Sign on the Facebook Campaign I have created for it HERE. 

Stay tuned and Be Aware, Think Change and Take Action…!