Saturday, December 26, 2009

MERRY CHRISTMAS (belated alright) and a BREAKING NEWS!!!




Date for Blog-a-Ton 6 : ?????
Date for Topic Declaration : ?????

Hi fellow Blog-a-Tonics, a merry christmas to all of you. I hope Mr. Santa delivered you all the goodies in the last two days. There is still one remaining and he wants me to deliver it to you. Yeah yeah, Blog-a-Tonic of the Month ofcourse. But still, a lot of time remains.

Lets welcome the new members of our Blog-a-Ton family and then continue our tete-a-tete
  • LaafatLife (Please provide us your Bloglink to be blogrolled)
  • Anu K (Please provide us your Bloglink to be blogrolled)

BREAKING NEWS - Blog-a-Ton 6 has been postponed by a week

Date for Blog-a-Ton 6 : Jan 9, 2010
Date for Topic Declaration : Jan 2, 2010

The reason behind this decision is simple - give you a break during this festive season, so that you can celebrate a great New Year. But the other reason is to allow participation of more Blog-a-Tonics in the topic discussion this time. I believe, once a person, takes part in this phase, he/she gets more inspired for the next one, that is marathon. Let's see if this hypothesis of mine holds any weight. So all of you have another week to put forward your suggestions and vote for those you like.

Move to the previous post for topic discussion.

Here are the present suggestions and the number of votes they got.
(Name of the Blog-a-Tonic who suggested and the link to his suggested image - Name of Blog-a-Tonics who voted for it (Total Number of votes))
Vipul - Vipul, Nethra, Pushpee, Mou, Neeraj, Preeti (6)
Pramathesh - Pramathesh, Deepti, Debosmita (3)
Sid - Sid, Narendra, Yemiledu (3)
Aneet - Aneet, Psych Babbler (2)
Madhu - Madhu (1)
Raji - Raji (1)
RajiM - RajiM (1)
Dil - Dil (1)
Talking Skull - Talking Skull (1)
Nethra - (0)
Now, those who have not yet suggested/voted, prefer to vote for one of these images or you may also suggest more images, if you want.

Kindly help in promoting the first Blog-a-Ton of the year 2010 by inviting others to participate in the discussions and the marathon through status messages and tweets on your social networking profiles.

In the comments section of this post, also suggest other ways as to how a blog-a-tonic can promote this event and invite both the existing members and potential members for the event.

P.S. The suggestions should be directed to fellow blog-a-tonics and not me as I am off to a much desired and deserved mini-vacation till next friday :)
Wishing you all a A Great New Year Bash
Blog-a-Tonically yours
Vipul Grover

Monday, December 21, 2009

Time for BLOG-A-TON 6

Date for Blog-a-Ton 6 : January 2, 2009
Topic declaration : December 26, 2009

I hope you all are geared up for the first blog-a-ton of 2010. And we will welcome the new year with a new format. I'll come back to this after welcoming our new members -
  • Chhayapath (Please provide us your name to be blogrolled)
  • Dagny Taggart
  • Mou
  • Bird Fan (Please provide us your name to be blogrolled)

    You all will be blogrolled soon.
This time we won't be blogging on a common topic. We will upload an image and it is upto the members to interpret it and write a post on it. It is something like a caption contest. The differnce here is that along with a suitable title, you have to write a complete post.

So with this, I invite your suggestions for a suitable image for Blog-a-Ton 6. Please keep the following things in mind while suggesting.
  • Each member can suggest only one image
  • Ensure that there are no copyright issues with respect to the image.
  • Provide a link to that image in the comments section
  • Use the following code to ensure direct navigability
        <a href="ADDRESS OF THE IMAGE">YOUR NAME's Suggestion</a>

         Eg. <a href="ABC.com/image1.jpg">Vipul Grover's Suggestion</a>
  • Before suggesting, go through the previous ones for sure.
  • If you like any of those, VOTE for them rather than giving a new suggestion.
  • While voting, just write the name of the person whose suggested image you are voting for. Use the name that he has provided in the above code.
  • In case you have already suggested an image but find some subsequent suggestion better than yours, you are allowed to vote for it. But this can be done only once.
  • Give your suggestions and votes in the comments section of this post.
  • Do not embolden your comment using HTML bold tag. Only the Marshal is allowed to use it.
  • Please keep these points in mind to make my job easier.
  • In case a comment is not posted according to these rules, it will be deleted.
Hoping to receive some cool suggestions
 Blog-a-Tonically Yours

Monday, December 14, 2009

How can Blog-a-Ton 6 be made more interesting?

Hi fellow Blog-a-Tonics.
The next Blog-a-Ton happens to be the first blogging marathon of 2010 and also marks, reaching the half way of our own blog-a-ton calender (Aug 1-Jul 31).
So should't it be special?

Before proceeding further, lets welcome the new members of our family
  • Yemiledu
  • Abyss
  • Dobin (Please provide your bloglink to be blogrolled)
  • S...
  • Varun (Please provide your bloglink to be blogrolled)
You all will be blogrolled soon.

 Recently, I received some mails from the members where they shared some suggestions for making this event more massive. (I am sorry, I have not replied you personally because of some time constraints).There were some good suggestions but I am afraid that most of them were too ambitious. Blog-a-Ton is just a part of my daily routine and hence, to keep a balance in all my activities, I cannot contribute more time than what I am doing already. Moreover, I want to keep this blog, a blog and not transform it into a website. However, I am not averse to including some members into the marshalling team to help me with certain stuff if the need arises.


Keeping these things in mind, pour in your suggestions to make the next blog-a-ton special. It should be specifically regarding a new format for Blog-a-Ton 6. For eg, how about having a common image to take an inspiration from rather than a common topic?


Looking forward to a community effort
Blog-a-Tonically yours

Thursday, December 10, 2009

Here, we present, the fifth Blog-a-Tonic of the Month!

With the voting over for the fifth edition of our event, this happens to be the final post for it.
Before we move further, lets welcome the new members:
You all will be blogrolled soon!

Without building any suspense this time, here are the results:
As evident, each vote from a participant =2 cheers whereas from non-participants =1 cheer


Congratulations Pawan, what a way to win. Kudos! You will soon receive our badge award!

You all can also read the voting comments now. Just click here to find what others had to say about your posts!

A personal note from the Marshal:
For those who read my entry, must be wondering how generous my organisation is and how much fun I have, working there. But some invisible hand conspired to take away all that fun and I have been keeping very busy because of it. This is the reason that I could not personally visit and comment upon each entry as I have done in the past Blog-a-Tons. This also stole away from me, the opportunity of welcoming the new blog-a-tonics who debuted in this edition. I am extremely sorry and hope that I'll be able to make these personal visits soon enough. And because, I couldn't read all the posts, I refrained from voting this time. Moreover, as I am the only person who knows the trend of voting as it proceeds, I might decide not to vote in future too. I hope all of you appreciate this decision. :)

Promising a bigger and better Blog-a-Ton 6,
Blog-a-Tonically Yours

Sunday, December 6, 2009

Its time to find the BATOM 5 :)

Voting is over. Kindly wait for the results!


It seems Blog-a-Ton is stuck somewhere. Third time is a row, we have got just around 40 entries. However, having read some of them, one thing is assured that the quality of entries is going up, the quantity might be stuck!

On this good note, let us welcome the new Blog-a-Tonics first of all -
You all will be blogrolled soon.

Click here to check the fellow Blog-a-Tonics who took part in this Blog-a-Ton along with the direct links to their posts.

In short, 37 entries came in so far. If there is anyone else who was unable to post in time due to any genuine reason, please convey it to me at 'Contact The Marshal' along with the link to your post.

Please follow the following rules while voting:

1. You must cast only 1 vote and of course you can not vote for yourself.
Don't vote for more than one person because that will be of no use for any of them as your vote will be discarded without any prior warning.

2. Your Voting Comment should start as follows:



In case you participated -

I vote for - XYZ; his/her postlink = http://ABC.com/pqrst.html

Code:
<b>I participated - <a href="YOUR POST LINK">YOUR POST LINK</a></b>
<b>I vote for - NAME OF THE BLOGATONIC YOU VOTE FOR; his/her postlink = <a href="HIS/HER POST LINK">HIS/HER POST LINK</a></b>



In case you did not participate -

I did not participate but I am blogrolled by the name of Vipul Grover.

I vote for - XYZ; his/her postlink = http://ABC.com/pqrst.html

Code:
<b>I did not participate but I am blogrolled by the name of YOUR NAME ON OUR BLOGROLL. </b>
<b>I vote for - NAME OF THE BLOGATONIC YOU VOTE FOR; his/her postlink = <a href="HIS/HER POST LINK">HIS/HER POST LINK</a></b>


Replace the parameters highlighted in red with their actual values.

Remember, in case you participated, your vote will be counted as 1 and in case you didn't, then it will just carry the 1/2 value.

Hence, do not forget to give your post link or blogrolled name (whichever is applicable as clearly visible in the above code) as it will decide whether your vote is counted as 1 or 1/2 in value.

3. Vote for only those entries which are listed here. If there are any late entries which are allowed to participate, they will be posted there as well.

Now coming to the other rules:
  • Voting ends at 2300 hrs (IST) on  Dec 10, 2009.
  • Post your vote in the comments section of this post.
  • I have started moderating the comments and won’t display the voting comments till the end of this process to keep the result secret till its conclusion.
  • After the voting code mentioned above, you may also add the reason, why you voted for a particular post to help others know what you expect as a reader. Moreover, you may also mention the other posts that you liked though you can vote for just one of them.
  • In case there are multiple entries from any Blogger, while counting the votes received by him/her, the entries will be considered individually for the award.
The Votes will be discarded without any prior warning in case they are not sufficiently compatible with the rules.

So, if there is any query about voting or you do not find yourself blogrolled, feel free to drop in a mail at 'Contact The Marshal'. I'll try to get back to you asap.

Hoping to see dozens of votes this time
Blog-a-Tonically Yours

Thursday, December 3, 2009

Rules and Reminder for Blog-a-Ton 5

Time for link submission is over.


Date for Blog-a-Ton
: December 5, 2009

Before I give you the details about posting, lets welcome the new Blog-a-Tonics
As you already know, the topic for Blog-a-Ton 5 has been finalised as:
All in a Day's Work

Please follow these rules while publishing your post and thereafter:
  • The title of your post should be the topic itself; i.e. All in a Day's Work.
    Please do not use any alternative title or your post link will be removed.
  • The post should start with this text within blockquotes and with link to this blog. Just copy the following HTML code and paste to your post in Edit HTML mode:

    <div style="text-align: justify;">
    <blockquote>
    This post has been published by me as a part of the <b>Blog-a-Ton 5</b>; the fifth edition of the online marathon of Bloggers; where we decide and we write. To be part of the next edition, visit and start following <a href="http://blog-a-ton.blogspot.com/"><b>Blog-a-Ton</b></a>.
    </blockquote>
    </div>
  • The post should end with this text within blockquotes and with links to the comments section of this post and this blog. Just copy the following HTML code and paste to ur post in Edit HTML mode:

    <div style="text-align: justify;">
    <blockquote>
    The <b>fellow Blog-a-Tonics</b> who took part in this Blog-a-Ton and links to their respective <b>posts</b> can be checked <a href="http://blog-a-ton.blogspot.com/2009/12/rules-and-reminder-for-blog-ton-5.html#comments"><b>here</b></a>. To be part of the next edition, visit and start following <b><a href="http://blog-a-ton.blogspot.com/">Blog-a-Ton</a></b>.
    </blockquote>
    </div>
  • Publish the post on December 5, 2009 anytime between 0000 hrs and 2359 hrs (IST).
  • Use the following code to provide direct link to your post.




    <a href="ADDRESS OF YOUR POST">YOUR NAME - ALL IN A DAY'S WORK</a>

    It will look like this: Vipul Grover - All in a Day's Work and will link to your post.
    Please follow this rule to ensure easy navigability to your post as this time no separate list of the participants will be provided later on
    .


  • Return on Dec 6 to vote for your favourite post. A separate notification for the same will be posted upon the conclusion of the event. So do not vote till then. Till then just enjoy reading the various entries, keeping in mind your favourite one. 
Looking forward to great participation
Blog-a-Tonically Yours

Saturday, November 28, 2009

Topic for Blog-a-Ton 5 is...

Date for Blog-a-Ton 5 : December 5, 2009

Lets welcome the new Blog-a-Tonics first of all :
  • Preeti
  • Akshaya
  • Mona (Please provide us your Bloglink to be blogrolled)
  • Amrita Dash (Please provide us your Bloglink to be blogrolled)
  • Sonu
  • ELdeaago (Please provide us your Bloglink to be blogrolled)
  • Sunil
  • Sanand
  • Jan Kovitch (Please provide us your Bloglink to be blogrolled)
  • Ranjit (Please provide us your Bloglink to be blogrolled)
Blog-a-Tonics have voted for All in a day's work as the topic for Blog-a-Ton 5. I must congratulate Sid for suggesting this topic (Office space) during Blog-a-Ton 3, Madhu for giving it its present title back then and finally Narendra for revisiting it this time. Lets see how everyone perceives it.
(I must also congratulate Debosmita for suggesting the topic What if? which was a close second. Lets hope we are able to revisit it in the coming BATs.)

While dealing with the topic, you have the freedom to treat it the way you want. Its upto you; which genre of writing you choose, i.e. simple essay-type, article, dialogue, short story (even 55 Fiction for that matter), poem or whatever you feel like.

Moreover, its upto you; which mood or tone you choose to set it in, i.e. serious, witty, humour, optimistic or whatever that comes to you naturally.

Again, you have the freedom to choose the language of communication. However, we'll suggest you to write in English to put across your views to the maximum members which will also help you when its the time to vote for the BATOM.

I hope this clarification helps the new Blog-a-Tonics.

So, you all have ample time to write it but you'll have to wait till Dec 5 to post it finally along with everyone else.


Other rules regarding posting will be conveyed to you later.

So kindly wait for that notification on next Thursday/Friday rather than putting up queries right now. If the queries are regarding general pattern of the event, please go through the posts about previous events.
Wishing you all, a free flow of thoughts
Blog-a-Tonically yours
Vipul Grover

Friday, November 20, 2009

And Here Comes the BLOG-A-TON 5 :-)

Date for Blog-a-Ton 5 : December 5, 2009
Topic declaration : November 28, 2009

Last month, when we initiated Blog-a-Ton 4, our membership had reached the 100 mark. And today, we have moved well beyond 150. So lets welcome the latest members first of all.
You all will be blogrolled soon.
So with this, I invite your suggestions for the topic for Blog-a-Ton 5. Please keep the following things in mind while suggesting.
  • Each member can suggest only one topic.
  • The topic should be general in scope, so that more and more Blog-a-Tonics can participate.
  • Before suggesting, go through the previous ones for sure.
  • If you like any of those, VOTE for them rather than giving a new suggestion.
  • If you like a suggested topic but don't like the wordings, still VOTE for it and alongside suggest a new title for it.
  • In case you have already suggested a topic but find some subsequent suggestion better than yours, you are allowed to vote for it. But this can be done only once.
  • Give your suggestions and votes in the comments section of this post.
  • Do not embolden your comment using HTML bold tag. Only the Marshal is allowed to use it.
  • Please keep these points in mind to make my job easier.
  • In case a comment is not posted according to these rules, it will be deleted.
    Kindly volunteer to compile all the suggestions every third day and post them together in the comments section to help others.


Hoping to receive some cool suggestions
 Blog-a-Tonically Yours

Thursday, November 12, 2009

And the Blog-a-Tonic of the Month is....

Well another Blog-a-Ton, another 'THE END'. With the voting over for the fourth edition of our event, this happens to be the final post for it.
Before we move further, lets welcome the new members:
You all will be blogrolled soon!

Without building any suspense this time, here are the results:
As evident, each vote from a participant =2 cheers whereas from non-participants =1 cheer




Congratulations Madhu, you surely deserved it. Please forward your postal address, so that Chetan Bhagat's latest novel can be mailed to you. Right now, I am e-mailing you your badge award!

You all can also read the voting comments now. Just click here to find what others had to say about your posts!

Once again, thanks to Sojo for sponsoring this gift for the winner.

Will soon be back with Blog-a-Ton 5,
Blog-a-Tonically Yours

Sunday, November 8, 2009

Vote for the BATOM 4..

Voting is over. Madhu Rao is the Blog-a-Tonic of the Month!


Finally the recession has hit the Blog-a-Ton too. It shows a negative growth in its fourth quarter.. errrr.. I mean edition. For the time being lets stick to the task at hand and leave the brainstorming to find the reasons behind this downward spiral as an agenda for the subsequent post!

Well now, dropping this boring corporate lingo, lets welcome the new Blog-a-Tonics first of all -

Click here to check the fellow Blog-a-Tonics who took part in this Blog-a-Ton along with the direct links to their posts.

In short, 38 entries came in and some more late entries are expected (genuine reasons for getting late have been conveyed to me).

If there is anyone else who was unable to post in time due to any genuine reason, please convey it to me at 'Contact The Marshal' along with the link to your post.

Based on our discussions, I have finalised the Voting rules this time.

First of all, lets see the Discussion trends:

Those in favour of half voting rights for non-participating Blog-a-Tonics:
Madhu, Avada Kedavra, Mustaf, Talking skull, Raji, Naveen, Swapna, Shankar, Ki, Sojo, Shilpa, Guria, Ankit, Vipul
 = 14

Those in favour of full voting rights for non-participating Blog-a-Tonics:
Narendra, Pramathesh,  Aativas, Soin, Dhiman, Makk, Daisy Blue, Debosmita
= 8

Those in favour of no voting rights for non-participating Blog-a-Tonics:
Prashant, Venky, Chetan, Pushpee
= 4

Kindly bring it to my notice if I have missed to include someone inadvertently or categorised his/her vote wrongly.

So, as is clear from these results, half voting rights it is. I hope everyone appreciates the decision.

Please follow the following rules while voting:

1. You must cast only 1 vote and of course you can not vote for yourself.
Don't vote for more than one person because that will be of no use for any of them as your vote will be discarded without any prior warning.

2. Your Voting Comment should start as follows:



In case you participated -

I vote for - XYZ; his/her postlink = http://ABC.com/pqrst.html

Code:
<b>I participated - <a href="YOUR POST LINK">YOUR POST LINK</a></b>
<b>I vote for - NAME OF THE BLOGATONIC YOU VOTE FOR; his/her postlink = <a href="HIS/HER POST LINK">HIS/HER POST LINK</a></b>



In case you did not participate -

I did not participate but I am blogrolled by the name of Vipul Grover.

I vote for - XYZ; his/her postlink = http://ABC.com/pqrst.html

Code:
<b>I did not participate but I am blogrolled by the name of YOUR NAME ON OUR BLOGROLL. </b>
<b>I vote for - NAME OF THE BLOGATONIC YOU VOTE FOR; his/her postlink = <a href="HIS/HER POST LINK">HIS/HER POST LINK</a></b>


Replace the parameters highlighted in red with their actual values.
Do not forget to give your post link or blogrolled name (whichever is applicable as clearly visible in the above code) as it will decide whether your vote is counted as 1 or 1/2 in value.

3. Vote for only those entries which are listed here. If there are any late entries which are allowed to participate, they will be posted there as well.

Now coming to the other rules:
  • Voting ends at 1900 hrs (IST) on  Nov 12, 2009.
  • Post your vote in the comments section of this post.
  • I have started moderating the comments and won’t display the voting comments till the end of this process to keep the result secret till its conclusion.
  • After the voting code mentioned above, you may also add the reason, why you voted for a particular post to help others know what you expect as a reader. Moreover, you may also mention the other posts that you liked though you can vote for just one of them.
  • In case there are multiple entries from any Blogger, while counting the votes received by him/her, the entries will be considered individually for the award.
The Votes will be discarded without any prior warning in case they are not sufficiently compatible with the rules.

So, if there is any query about voting or you do not find yourself blogrolled, feel free to drop in a mail at 'Contact The Marshal'. I'll try to get back to you asap.

Hoping to see dozens of votes this time
Blog-a-Tonically Yours

Friday, November 6, 2009

Rules and Reminders for Blog-a-Ton 4!

Time for Post Submission is over!


Date for Blog-a-Ton
: November 7, 2009


Before I give you the details about posting, lets welcome the new Blog-a-Tonics
  • Dhiren Shah (Please provide your blog link to be blogrolled)
  • Sravan Pradjumna (Please provide your blog link to be blogrolled)
  • Vinay S.
  • Vinaya Bala (Please provide your blog link to be blogrolled)
  • Nishant Singh (Please provide your blog link to be blogrolled)
  • Casey (Please provide your blog link to be blogrolled)
  • Chandrasegar Viswanathan (Please provide your blog link to be blogrolled)

As you already know, the topic for Blog-a-Ton 4 has been finalised as:
If I were a baby again


Please follow these rules while publishing your post and thereafter:

  • The title of your post should be the topic itself; i.e. If I were a baby again.
    Please do not use any alternative title or your post link will be removed.

  • The post should start with this text within blockquotes and with link to this blog. Just copy the following HTML code and paste to your post in Edit HTML mode:

    <div style="text-align: justify;">
    <blockquote>
    This post has been published by me as a part of the <b>Blog-a-Ton 4</b>; the fourth edition of the online marathon of Bloggers; where we decide and we write. To be part of the next edition, visit and start following <a href="http://blog-a-ton.blogspot.com/"><b>Blog-a-Ton</b></a>.
    </blockquote>
    </div>

  • The post should end with this text within blockquotes and with links to the comments section of this post and this blog. Just copy the following HTML code and paste to ur post in Edit HTML mode:


    <div style="text-align: justify;">
    <blockquote>
    The <b>fellow Blog-a-Tonics</b> who took part in this Blog-a-Ton and links to their respective <b>posts</b> can be checked <a href="http://blog-a-ton.blogspot.com/2009/11/rules-and-reminders-for-blog-ton-4.html#comments"><b>here</b></a>. To be part of the next edition, visit and start following <b><a href="http://blog-a-ton.blogspot.com/">Blog-a-Ton</a></b>.
    </blockquote>
    </div>

  • Publish the post on November 7, 2009 anytime between 0000 hrs and 2359 hrs.
  • Use the following code to provide direct link to your post.

    <a href="ADDRESS OF YOUR POST">YOUR NAME - IF I WERE A BABY AGAIN</a>

    It will look like this: Vipul Grover - If I were a baby again and will link to your post.
    Please follow this rule to ensure easy navigability to your post as this time no separate list of the participants will be provided later on
    .
  • Return on Nov 8 to vote for your favourite post. A separate notification for the same will be posted upon the conclusion of the event. So do not vote till then. Till then just enjoy reading the various entries, keeping in mind your favourite one. 

  • The Blog-a-Tonic of the Month, this time will get a copy of Chetan Bhagat's latest Novel - 2 States, the story of my marriage, thanks to our fellow blog-a-tonic Sojo Varughese. So if you haven't bought your copy yet, just wait for another week. Who knows you might be the winner this time :)

Looking forward to great participation
Blog-a-Tonically Yours

Saturday, October 31, 2009

Topic for Blog-a-Ton 4 and an important discussion!

Date for Blog-a-Ton 4 : November 7, 2009

Lets welcome the new Blog-a-Tonics first of all as our blog gets its first Google Page Rank of 2/10.
There is a long list this time and also a long way to go :)
  • Ankit Mishra
  • Debosmita Nandy (Please provide us your Bloglink to be blogrolled)
  • Pushpee (Please provide us your Bloglink to be blogrolled)
  • Push Vs Pull
  • Magiceye 
  • Solilo 
  • Kamal Singh (Please provide us your Bloglink to be blogrolled)
  • Ariyathe (Please provide us your Bloglink to be blogrolled)
  • Sylvian Patrick  
  • Yojitha (Please provide us your Bloglink to be blogrolled)
  • Kanagu (Please provide us your Bloglink to be blogrolled)
  • Nikhil Patokar 
  • Intrepid Dreamer (Please provide us your Bloglink to be blogrolled)
  • Heyy India  
  • N J
  • Mustaf 
  • Chitz
  • Niharika
    You all will be blogrolled soon.

    Blog-a-Tonics have overwhelmingly voted for If I were a baby again as the topic for Blog-a-Ton 4. I must congratulate Daisy Blue for suggesting this - as she puts it , a - fun topic. Lets see how everyone perceives it.

    While dealing with the topic, you have the freedom to treat it the way you want. Its upto you; which genre of writing you choose, i.e. simple essay-type, article, dialogue, short story (even 55 Fiction for that matter), poem or whatever you feel like.

    Moreover, its upto you; which mood or tone you choose to set it in, i.e. serious, witty, humour, optimistic or whatever that comes to you naturally.

    Again, you have the freedom to choose the language of communication. However, we'll suggest you to write in English to put across your views to the maximum members which will also help you when its the time to vote for the BATOM.

    I hope this clarification helps the new Blog-a-Tonics.

    So, you all have ample time to write it but you'll have to wait till Nov 7 to post it finally along with everyone else.


    Other rules regarding posting will be conveyed to you later.







    P.S. There is an important discussion that is taking place in the comments section of the previous post. It pertains to the voting procedure to elect the Blog-a-Tonic of the Month. The question is whether non-participanting Blog-a-Tonics be allowed to vote.

    We have three options - 
    a) No voting rights for non-participants
    b) 1/2 vote for them
    c) Full vote for them just like the participants


    Do take your stand on this issue. Those who have already voted, again vote in the comments section of this post to make your stand more visible.



    Wishing you all, a free flow of thoughts
    Blog-a-Tonically yours
    Vipul Grover

    Thursday, October 29, 2009

    A Quickie and a shameless self promotion!


    Hello friends, here is a quick post from my side to share some really 'intelligently hilarious' stuff with you.
    Even before, we flag off the fourth edition of BAT in a couple of days with the declaration of the final topic, our fellow Blog-a-Tonic, Madhu has come out with a brilliant post on the topic suggestion discussions taking place here. It is a must read post for all Blog-a-Tonics. Here is an excerpt -

    ‘Getting Married’ is pretty famous these days, especially if you get that ‘crème de la crème’ of a girl you seek (or your mom seeks!).Dream on, ‘Hallucinations’ you say ? Maybe. But ‘The Indian’ in me doesn’t give up.

    Click here to read the complete post and do leave your comments at Madhu's IndiMag site to let him know how you feel about it.

    And before, I take a leave to return on Saturday; I must not miss a great opportunity to get a bit shameless and request all Blog-a-Tonics cum Indibloggers to visit Indiblogger of the Month (Original Poetry) contest and vote for me, Vipul Grover (Reflections of an Empathic Libertarian), if you like my submissions. In addition to me, other Blog-a-Tonics - Pramathesh (Bamboo Lounge), Narendra (Frozen Well), Amit Kumar Singh (My Voice through my words) - are also participating. So do take out some time to encourage us all there as voting ends in a couple of days (Remember, there are 5 votes this time). In case, I have missed anyone's name inadvertently, do leave a comment and I'll add it asap.

    Blog-a-Tonically Yours

    Friday, October 16, 2009

    Time for Blog-a-Ton 4!

    Date for Blog-a-Ton 4 : November 7, 2009
    Topic declaration : October 31, 2009

    It is Diwali eve and we are joined by our 100th member. What a great time to kick start the fourth edition of Blog-a-Ton after conducting three successful ones in the last three months.

    Membership has been increasing all this time. So lets welcome the latest members first of all.
    In case you have joined our Fan page on Facebook but are still not following us through the Google Friend Connect widget on this blog, do it right away. It is a mandatory step to become a Blog-a-Tonic, get blogrolled and participate in our events .

    So with this, I invite your suggestions for the topic for Blog-a-Ton 4. Please keep the following things in mind while suggesting.
    • Each member can suggest only one topic.
    • The topic should be general in scope, so that more and more Blog-a-Tonics can participate.
    • Before suggesting, go through the previous ones for sure.
    • If you like any of those, VOTE for them rather than giving a new suggestion.
    • If you like a suggested topic but don't like the wordings, still VOTE for it and alongside suggest a new title for it.
    • In case you have already suggested a topic but find some subsequent suggestion better than yours, you are allowed to vote for it. But this can be done only once.
    • Give your suggestions and votes in the comments section of this post.
    • Do not embolden your comment using HTML bold tag. Only the Marshal is allowed to use it.
    • Please keep these points in mind to make my job easier.
    • In case a comment is not posted according to these rules, it will be deleted.
    Kindly volunteer to compile all the suggestions every third day and post them together in the comments section to help others.

    Wishing you all a prosperous and safe Diwali
     Blog-a-Tonically Yours

    Thursday, October 8, 2009

    Blog-a-Tonic of the Month - October 2009!

    Blog-a-Ton 3 was definitely Bigger and Better.

    Do not miss to visit the two late entries from Amit and Prabhjot, which though were not considered for voting but take the total number of participants to 40.

    With 42 entries coming from 40 blog-a-tonics, it makes our mission of participation by 100 blog-a-tonics, look achievable in future.

    The icing on the cake this time was the variety of presentation - poems, cinquains, short stories, 55 Fiction, dialogues, cartoons and video presentations added to the usual articles.

    Definitely, everyone had a difficult time choosing their favourite post.

    Before we move further, lets welcome the new Blog-a-Tonics:
    For those who missed to visit Madhu's IndiMag post, here is the video presentation. It might take time to load and viewing, but definitely you won't repent seeing it. I hope it inspires you to become a part of this Indian Dream-1 through 10 for India.



    Now coming back to the award, first of all, lets see the badge award, the BATOM wins this time:

    It has been designed by our fellow Blog-a-Tonic, Siddhesh Kabe aka Sid aka Ravan aka Sid 'Ravan' Kabe.
    Thanks a lot buddy for this gesture.This is the community feeling at its best.
    Coming to voting trends, there was 77.5 % polling, i.e. out of 40 eligible voters 31 casted their votes.
    I hope in future, every eligible voter exercise this right to make Blog-a-Ton, a bigger success.
    Afterall, it should not happen that a Blog-a-Tonic takes home the award without casting his/her vote.

    So finally bringing these announcements to a halt, I present to you the BATOM for Oct 2009 -


    Click upon the image, to see a better resolution image.
    All the votes which were not consistent with the rules have not been considered.

    Congratulations to Guria for winning the Blog-a-Tonic of the Month award for October, 2009 with 8 votes (25.8 % of the total votes polled).
    Please pass me your e-mail id so that the (higher resolution) badge award can be mailed to you. You may also copy it from here if you want. Do link it to this post of Blog-a-Ton.

    Let us congratulate Rahul and ARJuna too for securing the second highest votes, i.e. 4 each.

    All the voting comments are now visible. Click here to read them.

    P.S. Join the Facebook Blog-a-Ton group and the Blog-a-Ton Fan page.
    Now, you can initiate discussions, upload images and videos, leave interesting links and just scribble anything on the wall. It will also help you to know the fellow blog-a-tonics better and get instant updates about the events and activities.
    On the Discussion board, I have already initiated two topics pertaining to future voting procedure and the linguistic medium on Blog-a-Ton. Kindly give your inputs there. (The discussion board has been shifted from the Group Page to the Fan Page)


    Hoping to see you all on Facebook too
    Blog-a-Tonically Yours
    Vipul Grover

    Sunday, October 4, 2009

    Voting Begins - Only the participants can Vote!

    Voting is over. BATOM for October, 2009 is Guria.


    Its great to see the overwhelming response to the Blog-a-Ton 3. We are going from strength to strength with each passing event.

    Anyway lets first welcome the new Blog-a-Tonics who just joined us:
    Click here to check the fellow Blog-a-Tonics who took part in this Blog-a-Ton along with the direct links to their posts.

    In short, 40 entries from 38 Blog-a-Tonics.

    If someone was unable to post in time due to any genuine reason, please convey it to me at Contact Us along with the link to your post.

    This time we'll be somewhat moving back to the format followed in the Blog-a-Ton 1 for electing the Blog-a-Tonic of the Month (BATOM)
    • Only those Blog-a-Tonics can vote who participated in Blog-a-Ton 3.
    • You must cast 1 vote and of course you can not vote for yourself.
    • However, this time you are allowed to cast a Second Vote which will be considered only in case there is a tie on the basis of the first vote. This is not mandatory.
    • Kindly, cast both your votes in the same comment.
    • In case of multiple entries from any blogger, please mention the specific post you are voting for and not just the name of the blogger.

    Now coming to the other rules:
    • Voting ends at 1900 hrs (IST) on Oct 8, 2009.
    • Post your vote in the comments section of this post.
    • I have started moderating the comments and won’t display the voting comments till the end of this process to keep the result secret till its conclusion.
    • You might also add the reason, why you voted for a particular post to help others know what you expect as a reader. Moreover, you may also mention the other posts that you liked though you can vote for only the most liked one and if you wish to, then for the second in line too.
    • In case there are multiple entries from any Blogger, while counting the votes received by him/her, the entries will be considered individually for the award.
    Hoping to see as much enthusiasm for this phase
    Blog-a-Tonically Yours

    Monday, September 28, 2009

    Rules and Reminder for Blog-a-Ton 3!

    Time for submissions is over!


    Date for Blog-a-Ton
    : October 3, 2009


    Before I give you the details about posting, lets welcome the new Blog-a-Tonics

    As you already know, the topic for Blog-a-Ton 3 has been finalised as:
    The Indian Dream

    Please follow these rules while publishing your post and thereafter:

    • The title of your post should be the topic itself; i.e. The Indian Dream
    • The post should start with this text within blockquotes and with link to this blog. Just copy the following HTML code and paste to ur post in Edit HTML mode:
    • The post should end with this text within blockquotes and with links to the comments section of this post and this blog. Just copy the following HTML code and paste to ur post in Edit HTML mode:
    • Publish the post on October 3, 2009 anytime between 0000 hrs and 2359 hrs.
    • Use the following code to provide direct link to your post.
      It will look like this: Vipul Grover - The Indian Dream and will link to your post.
      Please follow this rule to ensure easy navigability to your post as this time no separate list of the participants will be provided later on
      .
    • Return on Oct 4 to vote for your favourite post. A separate notification for the same will be posted within 24 hours of the event's conclusion. So do not vote till then. Till then just enjoy reading the various entries, keeping in mind your favourite one.

    Please use the following code to provide direct link to your post in the comments section.

    Looking forward to great participation
    Blog-a-Tonically Yours

    Friday, September 25, 2009

    Topic for Blog-a-Ton 3!

    Date for Blog-a-Ton 3 : October 3, 2009

    Lets welcome the new Blog-a-Tonics who have taken our count to 75.

    Blog-a-Tonics have overwhelmingly voted for The Indian Dream as the topic for Blog-a-Ton 3. I must congratulate Indian Pundit for suggesting it.

    All in a Day's work was another favourite. Lets hope we take it up in future.

    While dealing with the topic, you have the freedom to treat it the way you want. Its upto you; which genre of writing you choose, i.e. simple essay-type, article, dialogue, short story (even 55 Fiction for that matter), poem or whatever you feel like.

    Moreover, its upto you; which mood or tone you choose to set it in, i.e. serious, witty, humour, optimistic or whatever that comes to you naturally.

    Again, you have the freedom to choose the language of communication. However, we'll suggest you to write in English to put across your views to the maximum members which will also help you when its the time to vote for the BATOM.

    I hope this clarification helps the new Blog-a-Tonics.

    So, you all have ample time to write it but you'll have to wait till Oct 3 to post it finally along with everyone else.

    Other rules regarding posting will be conveyed to you later.

    Wishing you a free flow of thoughts
    Blog-a-Tonically yours
    Vipul Grover

    Saturday, September 12, 2009

    Blog-a-Ton is back.. Lets make it 3 times lucky!!!

    Date for Blog-a-Ton 3 : October 3, 2009
    Topic declaration : September 26, 2009

    So here we are back with the third edition of Blog-a-Ton after conducting two successful ones in the last two months.

    Membership has been increasing all this time. So lets welcome the latest members first of all.
    I must thank all of you for replying the couple of queries last time. On the basis of the general consensus reached there, we will continue with a single topic for the Blog-a-Ton 3 too.

    So with this, I invite your suggestions for the topic for Blog-a-Ton 3. Please keep the following things in mind while suggesting.
    • The topic should be general in scope, so that more and more Blog-a-Tonics can participate.
    • Before suggesting, go through the previous ones for sure.
    • If you like any of those, VOTE for them rather than giving a new suggestion.
    • If you like a suggested topic but don't like the wordings, still VOTE for it and alongside suggest a new title for it.
    • Give your suggestions and votes in the comments section of this post.
    • Please keep these points in mind to make our job easier.
    Kindly volunteer to compile all the suggestions every third day and post them together in the comments section to help others.

    Looking forward to some interesting suggestions
    Yours blog-a-tonically

    Thursday, September 10, 2009

    BATOM for Sep 2009 is/are...

    DO NOT SCROLL DOWN AND ENJOY THE POST. LET THE SUSPENSE BUILD.

    So, finally we come to an end of a great event which saw the participation of 28 Indian bloggers from home and away who came together to give their brilliant insights into Teachers : Aaj Kal.

    Lets start with welcoming our new members:
    The fact that added even more weight to the event was that we had teachers like Dr. Ranee K. Banerjee, my Dad, Pankaja and Aneet participating with us.

    Everyone enriched this event with their unique takes on the subject.

    Ranee[1], [2], [3] entered with multiple submissions which covered the students perspective, teacher's perspective and finally a brilliant touching and eloquent short story bringing out changes in the demands of the profession.

    If just that short story was not enough, Nasrajan too brought out the difference between Teachers : Aaj Kal, succinctly, aptly and eloquently by the medium of a short story.

    Refreshing us with another form of literature, Richa at her poetic best, takes a middle path to explain that the difference between Teachers : Aaj Kal or rather Education : Aaj Kal lies in our subjective perceptions and not objective realities.

    Shruti in her highly comprehensive post has touched many relevant issues through variety of mediums like anecdotes, 55 Fiction and factual and analytical information, all in a single post.

    Avada Kedavra dealt with the various aspects about the changing trends and new developments in the profession independently and posted an amusing and apt sketch to depict information overload these days.

    Prof. V.K. Grover, publishing a guest post on my blog, also did a brilliant analysis touching various aspects of the topic and gave some unknown facts in the reference to the University education.

    Dhiman started with two relevant quotes bringing out the difference in general perception succinctly and concludes that its our luck that which teacher (good or bad) we happen to meet in our lifetimes irrespective of the generations.

    Two quotes from Indian Pundit,'Techers then used to command respect.. Today they have to demand it' and 'Teachers are nothing but reflection of society itself' sum up his post nicely.

    Sojo had a different but brilliant perspective equating teaching to just any other profession that exists and hence de-emphasises its so-called noble character to make it more professional in this competitive world.

    On somewhat similar lines, Vishnu favours the commercialisation of the profession and feels that better education is directly proportional to the money you are ready to shell out.

    Aneet with his witty inputs in an otherwise serious analysis has done full justice to the topic. Well, in short you can say he has done a serious witty analysis. (Hey Aneet, even I can write oxymorons:)

    Ajinkya presented a humorous but apt analogy between the changing trends in Bollywood and teaching as a profession.

    Sid taking side of present schooling system, further added to the humour quotient with a nice flashback mechanism to show the difference between his and his niece's teachers and schools.

    Pramathesh shared some nice anecdotes about his teachers at different stages of his education and even his mother's teachers for that matter to show the change.

    Rajalakshmi too shared some general anecdotes including story behind the origin of the day and nice references to our cherished Dr. APJ Abdul Kalam.

    Aativas, taking a different stand talks of various people from a tribal woman to an honest policeman you meet in 'day-to-day life' (another interpretation of Aaj Kal) who teach you something good.

    Mytuppence, coming from corporate background, modified the scope of the title to call the Managers as the Teachers Now while those from the college/school days as Teachers Then, sharing interesting anecdotes about some of them.

    Bharathi interpreted the topic in Present and Future sense giving some apt suggestions for reforms in education leaning towards morality and change in the cultural parameters to decide wisdom, i.e. practical rather than theoretical knowledge.

    Pra's was a brilliant Mahabharat's Samay Chakra meets H.G. Wells Time Machine post. She amazed us with an extensive historical analysis of the development of this profession.

    Lakshmi, eloquently touched various aspects like historical development of the profession, some known people from this background, suggestions for reforms and his own teachers from the past.

    Shilpa, as always has something new to offer. So here she does an exhaustive search for relevant quotes and makes dichotomic pairs out of them to create a full-length post.

    What better way to deal the topic than sit down for a test. Govind treated the topic in an innovative Q/A form raising some highly relevant issues like disobedience faced by teachers of today.

    Even Saimanohar talks of a situation where there is increasing pressures on teachers due to rebellious students but at the same time, according to him more friendly relationship is being fostered between them.

    For Pankaja too 'Respect' is the keyword as she aptly concludes that maybe a little bit of respect from both the sides will help in bringing back the Teachers then.

    Shankar in an exhaustive post straight from his heart concluded with apt words that Experience is the best teacher.

    In a short and crispy post, Azad shares his 'tryst' with education. For him the problem does not lie in the teachers but the whole education system.

    Pawan showed the change with an interesting introduction refering to the changing role models of the students, as the generations progress.

    In a transitory stage between the student-she-was and the teacher-she-will-be, Guria is clear about one thing that its way past the time to bring back the true spirit and glory of the teachers. (You’ll definitely make a great teacher).

    On the whole, there is a sort of consensus that the ethics and standards of the teaching as a profession have degraded to some extent but then at the macro level they are just the reflection of the changing priorities of the society at large.

    While most insist that there is a need to look at teaching as a noble profession, there are some who feel that it should be treated just like any other profession without adding the ‘service’ tag to it.

    Nonetheless, everyone agrees that there is an urgent need to revitalise the profession through better training and better monetary incentives for the teachers.

    Moreover, moving beyond this general interpretation, some Blog-a-Tonics have aptly increased the scope of teachers to include within their ambit the parents, other people we meet in everyday life, our own practical experiences and above all the Mother Nature.



    Now coming to the voting trends. Well, total 26 votes came in out of which one was from a non-participant. The voting was very close. Most of the participants managed a vote but two stood out and hence are sharing the award.

    P.S. Richa's votes have been cancelled as she voted twice, once for Ajinkya and once for Nasrajan. Please read the rules carefully in the future.

    Congratulations to Govind and Indian Pundit for winning the Blog-a-Tonic of the Month award for September, 2009 with 4 votes and 16 cheers each.

    Please pass me your e-mail ids so that the badge award can be mailed to you.

    All the voting comments are now visible. Click here to read them.
    In case you find any discrepancy in the results, please bring it to my notice asap.


    Here are two important questions for all the Blog-a-Tonics:
    • Please tell next time, should we go for a single topic or a broader category under which the Blog-a-Tonics have the freedom to take up any issue (though the category won't be that broad that every topic has exclusive scope)
    • In case of multiple entries in future, should we count the votes obtained by all the posts of the particular blog-a-tonic or look at the posts individually while deciding BATOM.
    Please answer these questions in the comments section for sure.

    Signing off with an elated heart,
    Yours blog-a-tonically,
    Vipul Grover