25 Aug 2009

Of Alphabet (Tags) and Awards

Aug 19, 2009
5:35 pm

First of all, I must inform you that I just nominated my blog for Indiblogger of the Month award for the month of August, 2009. This month, the category is Original Literature - Short Stories. So, whenever, the voting begins, do consider my blog while exercising your Indiblogger enfranchisement.

Taking a cue from the politics, each voter will receive a bundle of the following currency notes; so in short its my version of Notes for Votes.



UPDATE: The Indiblogger of the Month contest is over. I received nine votes. So a heartfelt thanks to all those who voted for me. Click here to see the results.


Now coming back to the tags, these are some tags which have been doing the rounds of blogosphere recently and curiously, they are all related to Alphabets and Numbers. I started untagging myself of the following one at night, so will continue with it, for the time being.


Aug 19, 2009
12:15 am - 01:00 am and 5:45 pm - 6:30 am

TAG - I

The ABC Tag is from Anjan who tagged me on Jul 21, 2009. Sadly, Anjan left the blogosphere all of a sudden, some days after that.

Rules! Rules! Rules!
  1. Link the person who tagged you..
  2. Post the rules on your blog.
  3. Share the ABCs of you.
  4. Tag 3 people at the end of your post by linking to their blogs.
  5. Let the 3 tagged people know that they have been tagged by leaving a comment on their website.
  6. Do not tag the same person repeatedly but try to tag different people, so that there is a big network of bloggers doing this tag!
Please bear with my ABC's... Here it goes:
A
Available/Single?
Absolutely Single (actually freshly single).
So not sure if ready to Mingle.
Maybe, I am. Give it a shot, who knows!
B
Best Friend?
Rachna ofcourse. She also happens to be my rakhi sister.
Among the guys though there is a clear favourite among around 4-5 of them but I'll prefer to keep it under wraps.
C
Cake or Pie?
I'll love an Apple Pie for a change after too much of the Chocolate Cake.
D
Drink of choice?
Its water of course; a necessity, choice or no choice.
E
Essential item you use every day?
Lets start from the time I wake up; Mobile (alarm), Tubelight switch, Slippers, News paper, Shit Pot, Tooth Brush... blah blah blah!
F
Favorite color?
Red, Blue, Black..
Starting from my tricycle, bicycle, geared bicycle, non-geared Scooty and finally the Pulsar bike; all have been red. Definitely, the car won't be red.
When it comes to clothes, I essentially have a blue wardrobe followed by red and black.
And yeah, just check, the colour scheme of my other blog, Blog-a-Ton to get an idea.
G
Gummy Bears Or Worms?
Deepika Padukone
H
Hometown?
Chandigarh, the City Beautiful. Check this post to know more about it.
I
Indulgence?
Blogging, I believe and more particularly taking up such tags. This is a big indulgence for a Civil Services aspirant.
J
January or February?
The period between 2359 hours on Jan 31 to 0001 hours on Feb 1.
I remember when in school, both the months sucked. January because, then the schools opened after Winter holidays and February because, then Final Examinations got closer.
K
Kids & their names?
Of course, no kid. However name for a boy is decided - Mrityunjay.
L
Life is incomplete without?
Family and Friends
M
Marriage date?
Lets see. I am not even sure of the year yet or for that matter the prospective bride yet.
N
Number of siblings?
One and only one, an elder sinister, I mean sister!
Just kidding, don't tell her *wink*
O
Oranges or Apples?
Apple as a fruit, Orange as the juice.
P
Phobias/Fears?
Well already told in previous tag post - I have fear of height and ... check that post.

Q
Quote for today?
My favourite one - Hope for the Best and Prepare for the Worst.
R
Reason to smile?
It can be anything, just anything -
To see a baby smile
To see a parrot fly
To feel a loving hug
To have a beer mug
To get a nice comment
To feel her mesmerising scent
To indulge with the friends
Just smile at life's every bend.
S
Season?
That is a tough one. Can't choose between the ice-cream and shakes in summers and dry-fruits in winters.
T
Tag 3 People?
This is such an old tag that I am last on Blogosphere to take it up. If still there is some one who is left, please take it up and do let me know when you post it.
U
Unknown fact about me?
Well, I already divulged 5 of them in the previous post. Another one, if you want, here it comes - I don't smoke but drink occasionally, very very occasionally.
V
Vegetable you don't like?
Vegetable, I hate the most is Ridged Gourd, better known as Tori in Hindi. Other translations
  • Peerkankai (Tamil)
  • Jhinga (Bengali)
  • Dodaka or Ghosavala (Marathi)
  • Beera Kaya (Telugu)
  • Heeray Kayi (Kannada)
  • Bhol (Assamese)
W
Worst habit?
Eating finger nails; actually just bite them off, don't eat them literally; and also pulling my hair (now that might be a reason behind my balding).
X
X-rays you've had?
Of teeth, way back!
Y
Your favorite food?
Punjabi, Kashmiri, South Indian, Chinese, Italian, American, Continental.....
The favourite dishes are Rajmah-Chawal and Mutton-Chawal.
Z
Zodiac sign?
Cancer; the so-called romantic emotional fool.


Aug 25, 2009
12:15 am

TAG - II

Here is another tag related to alphabets, The Favorite Alphabet Tag. It is from Shilpa who tagged me on Jul 24, 2009.

The tag wants to know my favourite alphabet and asks me to share my favourite beginnings with that alphabet.

Frankly speaking, I never thought of choosing between the 26 beautiful alphabets of English. Each plays its role to perfection in order to make English such a beautiful language. So I'll have to forego this one.

P.S. This is the way to take up a tag of a blogger buddy without taking it up :)

Talking of Shilpa, she honoured me with the Zombie Chicken Award yesterday. Yeah, I know it sounds too zombie. Read about it to know the reason behind this peculiar name.


The blogger who receives this award believes in the Tao of the zombie chicken – excellence, grace and persistence in all situations, even in the midst of a zombie apocalypse.

These amazing bloggers regularly produce content so remarkable that their readers would brave a raving pack of zombie chickens just to be able to read their inspiring words.

As a recipient of this world-renowned award, you now have the task of passing it on to at least 5 other worthy bloggers. Do not risk the wrath of the zombie chickens by choosing unwisely or not choosing at all.

So now, do I want to risk the wrath of the zombie chickens. Yes, I am ready to do that. I won't be awarding it to 5 but only one blogger buddy and mind you this is the first award I am awarding till date.

It goes to my dear Blogger Buddy Bharathi, whom I once gave the title of Empathic Libertarian. Actually at that time, I mistook him for a girl and was just trying to impress her.. oops, I mean him. Jokes apart, he is a great thinker but too ideological at times. This difference between our perceptions feed our mammoth debates. He also happens to be the top reflector, i.e. commentator on my blog while I am trying hard to become one on his blog.

So, in short, I am very happy to pass on this award to him. And ofcourse, thanks to Shilpa for passing it to me.

And yeah, number tags, some other day.

Image Courtesy:
From Personal Collection created on http://www.photofunia.com/ (edited)
http://shilpaagarg.blogspot.com (original)

31 comments:

BrownPhantom said...

Hi Vipul,
You've got a fantastic blog going here. :).
Best of luck for the indiblogeer contest. [I am in running too, but won't mind voting for you if I get those notes] .
Tags were funnny :).
Following you .

Unknown said...

hey..first tag was good...

the second tag....very bad...taking a tag without taking it..... and congrats for the award...

Bharathi said...

Very naturally done tag as usual.

I liked 'elder sinister :-) and Reasons to smile. Very natural and humorous.

Thanks for informing about the truth behind your ‘Empathic libertarian’ title on me. (I think I should have stayed as girl in blogs as it would have fetched me more awards, followers and comments ;-). (no gender bias pals)

Thanks for a short review on me. You are not the first one to point out that I am little ideological at times. May be I will take it without a debate :-)

And finally a big thanks for giving me Zombie chicken award. I am absolutely flattered for being the only one to receive it from you.

Dhiman said...

Congratz for Zombie Chicken Award :) ...
I do love Heeray Kayi with Poppy Seeds its a very popular dish of Bengal ...wanna try .... here's the recipe http://www.cookinginindia.com/jhinge.html ;)

Impressive favorite food list ....

Indiblogger of the Month well lets keep it a suspense :D

Waiting for Shilpa's response on your undoing the Tag-II :D

Vineeta said...

Zombie Chicken Award!!! Hahahaha!!
But neways.. Congrats for the award! And I really liked the reason to smile part of the tag :)

Vipul Grover said...

Hey BP welcum 2 my blog:)
Nice 2 know tht u r running too.. wil gt 2 read ur best posts too this way.
In our case v cn hv VOTE for VOTE :p
Thnx 4 appreciating d blog.. keep reflecting!

@Shankar.. buddy, seriously, i nvr thot about having a favourite alphabet or number.. its too arbit:)

Vipul Grover said...

@Bharathi.. no gender bias pals..
Man fact is a fact.. Evn um thinking of changing my profile pic frm a bearded bald fat guy to a .... (u know wat i mean) :p
Yup, i know um not d only 1, i think hav read bout it on sum post or mayb in discussions with u, bt thn gr8 men r alwez contradictd till they succeed:).. it was a pleasure 2 pass on d award 2 u nd gud tht u didnt spark off a debate this time :p

Vipul Grover said...

@Dhiman.. Hey, will chk it straight away.. hav only savoured bengali sweets till now.. havnt hd bengali dishes till now.. bt ridged gourd of all.. um apprehensive.. lets c :)

@Vineeta.. hey thnx vineeta.. keep smiling nd reflecting:)

Dhiman said...

Don't worry Vipul you can replace the ridge gourd with potato or snake gourd :D but ridge gourd is best ...he he he

Vishnu said...

i think its peerthangai..

pawan said...

We have fierce competition dude :)
My blog is also nominated!
And as for the tags no comments!

BK Chowla, said...

Vipul,no competition from me(joke). Sure I will vote for you.

Bharathi said...

@ Vishnu: I think he is right. Thats how my mum calls. Peerkankai.

Vipul Grover said...

@Dhiman.. Buddy a gourd is a gourd.. ridged or snake.. well the snake ones r abundant on the hedge nd trees in my backyard :)
Well, cn try out potato thing bt actually poppy seeds r sumthing um not sure if we gt here :(


@Vishnu n Bharathi.. Guys thts courtesy Wikipedia.. Um totally illiterate as far as Tamil goes.. not totally actualy.. do know one word- Ille for No of course!

Vipul Grover said...

@Pawan.. Hmmmmm.. lets c ;)

@Chowlaji.. Thanq so mch.. atleast one vote cnfrmd :)

Abhishek Pareek said...

Hi ! Liked your blog a lot but the immediate thought that followed was that it's a pity that we don't have people like you writing in Hindi. No, I am not telling you that you should write in Hindi.Anyway, that's a different issue. I very well understand that there are preferred languages of expression and I admire you for your work in the language that you have written it.

I wish you all the best for the indiblogger award, though, I have voted for some other blog and the reason may be an obsession with a language in particular. Well, saying that would be unfair to the blogger I voted for, I really like the stories too.

I have to mention that I admired the design of your blog and I hope to learn how to do it myself.

Vishnu said...

@bharathi.. after some research i found out tht they call it both ways..
@vipul.. wiki source.. cmon wiki cant provide the slang.. n am astonished by ur multilingual skills.. lol..

Vipul Grover said...

@Abhishek.. thnx buddy 4 dropping by nd appreciating my blog..
Frankly, i was nvr bad in Hindi too. In school, I was called Shastriji by classmates for my Hindi skills.
Bt 8 years of non-Hindi studies aftr tht, has corruptd me.
If u read my previous post about an essay in d exam, thn i mst tell u, on snday i hd a hindi xam nd i did it vry badly. Nd i feel sorry 4 tht!
Keep rtrning 2 my blog nd reflecting on the posts.. do provide me ur bloglink too:)

@Vishnu.. Peerkankai or Peerthangai.. I simply hate it.. lol

Abhishek Pareek said...

@Vipul. Here you are shastriji http://rainbowisgrey.wordpress.com and yeah this photograph that appears against my name was shot in the last decade, I don't know how it's still showing on Google I had changed it.

Anjan said...

LOL.... i just got some bouncers on that "Zombie chicken" thingie... Congrats for it... and as usual a-tag-well-done!! ;) may be its time to print some tag pamphlets and distribute to the public out of blogosphere!! lol!! :P wat say!?

Indian Pundit said...

Hey Dude

You got my vote in indiblogger.

Cheers

Vipul Grover said...

@abhishek.. ohk:) i'll b dropping by soon..

@Anjan.. so finally u r back 2 increase ur comment count:)
tht tag pamphlet isnt a bad idea:)

@IP.. Thnx buddy 4 d support:)

Shilpa Garg said...

The ABC Tag is damn interesting!!

"Elder sinister:!! You surely need a knock on your head for this one!! ( Guess, I can take this liberty, coz I am "Elder" to you!! :D

And I guess, another knock, for giving THIS treatment to Favorite Alphabet Tag!!
This is not on!! I mean, you need to give 'DUE RESPECT' to the tag!! :D

Even if you take 'V' as your favorite letter, there are loads of things, you could have done with it!! Vacations, Vegetables, Verses, Variety, Ventures, Voluntary work and of course Venus!! :D
I know, you would have done it better than this, and I need not give any such suggestions!!
Am disappointed!! :(

And you'd not believe this, I mistook Bharathi for a girl too!
And it took quite a while to understand that it was otherwise!
:D

And Congratulations on your Award! You deserved it!! :)

Vipul Grover said...

Hey, sch a long cmmnt on a vacation.. thts a luxury u know :p

Oops, d knock hurts :)

Even if you take 'V' as your favorite letter...
Hawwwwwww.. u want me 2 bcum a dishonest blogger who claims an alphabet 2 b his favourite just to complete a tag.. I am disappointed too!! :( haha..

cuming 2 bharathi. tht poor guy has been mistook by two othr bloggers in my knowledge.. so tht makes us four.. lol

thnx 4 d award again:)

Amit Kumar Singh said...

It's interesting tag... :)

first time visiting ur blog..
Nice blog u have...

cheers!!

Anonymous said...

a very nice blog read some of your posts and well liked them very much...

about this post...can't say much...
new to blogging...you can check out.. I have blogrolled you

Vipul Grover said...

@Amit.. hey thnx 4 dropping by nd appreciating my blog..
Keep rtrning nd reflecting:)

@R S.. hey thnx thr 4 blogrolling.. gud 2 know u likd my postings.. will b visiting ur blog soon:)

Roshmi Sinha said...

Nicely done tags... as always! And congrats for the award....

P.S. Its actually 'jhinge' in bengali... 'jhinga' is prawns in hindi :)

Vipul Grover said...

Hey thnx roshmi:)
well, a correction is needed on wikipedia also in tht case:)

Sue Gir said...

I had done the first tag some time back too. Very good read. And your blog is great.
I followed the link from your comment on my blog. Thanks for stopping by.
Will check out the indiblogger contest soon. :-)

Vipul Grover said...

Hi sue.. hd hopped on2 ur blog frm Indivine i blive.. thnx 4 visitng.. thnx 4 appreciating my blog.. keep reflecting :)