My 8 aana post on Twitter

About the title: I wanted to write a post & call it “10 trusted ways to Twitter Ninjadom” but that would have been linkbait! *wink wink* There are already dime-a-dozen posts about Twitter but still I couldn’t resist this! Hope somebody finds some value out of this…

Twitter for me is blog, IM, SMS, social bookmarking & news ticker — all rolled into one. I don’t think this was the way it was envisioned to be but guess nobody is complaining!

From dabbler to devout fanboy:

I heard about Twitter for the first time in early 2007 & signed up. To answer the question – “What are you doing?”, frequently, seemed too narcissist a thing to do for me (it helped that hardly any of my friends were on Twitter at that time!) Later I read that it was growing rapidly but was still having uptime issues with blogs like Techcrunch frequently questioning its architecture. Meanwhile, I had signed up for FriendFeed & was there lurking. I found a lot of cool stuff with some very involved & intelligent discussion going on on various topics but found it difficult to jump in and participate. Late 2008 & Twitter was growing, the architecture issues seemed to be sorted out & Mumbai 26/11 happened. That was when I really got hooked to the medium & I have abandoned FriendFeed for some time now! Another casualty is the Google Reader shared items. I find more value in sharing stuff with my followers in Twitter than my Google friends (FriendFeed can pull my Google Reader shared items & post to Twitter but I prefer direct posting).

Twitter seems to provide me a way to:

• meet interesting people sharing similar ideas
• ask the occasional question
• have a timeline for what i have been doing over time
• share interesting & current stuff

C’mon, where else can you casually chat up with SRK? (On his blog maybe, but does he have one? And not everybody has the nerve/time/patience to write a blog these days). The USP is its simplicity — making the entry barrier very low. Also, unlike RSS, there is no point in trying to keep up. It’s much better to drink from the firehose (although I do RSS subscribe to people to who’s tweets I don’t wanna miss)

The Ways I’ve seen people using it (other than answering – what they are doing?):

• Public IM – People chat with others tweeps almost as if they are on IM. The followers get to spy on these tweets & in the process, could also stumble upon somebody interesting to follow.
• Marketing tool – People like Guy Kawasaki & Leo Babauta use Twitter (from what I’ve seen lately) to publicize their webpage/blog by posting links, asking for suggestions etc.
• PR handler – Large corporates are using Twitter as a PR tool & as a way to capture the pulse of the Twitterati. e.g. Infosys
• Breaking news source – Twitter is the place where breaking news is first appearing with first person accounts, Twitpics taking the cake
• Means to share cool, useful stuff – The followers get to see all the interesting stuff that the tweeter dug up while surfing the Net

Other interesting aspects:

1. Retweeting – I like retweeting since it’s an easy way to reshare a tweet which I think might be useful to my followers. It also gives credit to the original poster & gives me a chance to interact with that person.
2. To reciprocate a ‘follow’ or not – Some people use tools like Socialtoo to autofollow their followers. This could be one way of not losing followers but I don’t do it. There is an interesting discussion here about this & I like what the author says. My ‘follow’ decision is usually based on whether the Tweeter is -
   1. Thought leader
   2. Celebrity
   3. IRL friend sharing interesting life tidbits
   4. having shared interests
   5. belonging to the same city (thus providing a local aspect to tweets)
   6. a news breaker
   7. plane damn interesting

Other than all this, the tweeter should have a good SNR ratio & there should be enough bandwidth in my Twitter stream to effectively listen! No point in superficially listening to somebody!

As an added bonus:

• What is Twitter being used for
• Twitter tools

I guess that’s about what I wanted to say about that!

Twitter: Finally where less is more!

Slumdog Millionaire / Potty Dive

I decided to watch Slumdog Millionaire yesterday — since it’s about Mumbai & had won the critic’s choice award at the Golden Globes this year.

Well, the movie has great screenplay… It was gripping enough for me to watch it without wondering about time. Pluses would include good acting & a realistic portrayal of the dark & violent underbelly of Mumbai. But the plot has quite a few holes which I didn’t expect from a highly rated movie (#40 on the IMDB list). Also I am not sure what I should be taking away from the movie. Jamaal’s story, if it was about an underdog triumphing against all odds wasn’t inspiring enough. It tells us about poverty, crime & their unholy nexus but we already know about it. Also some scenes being shot in English while others in Hindi didn’t go too well for me. Why not completely in Bambaiya Hindi (at least as a version for the Indian audience)? I cannot say much about the music since Rahman’s scores were fleeting during the movie & would require separate listening.

This movie might well appeal to the West as they can see poverty, slums, filth, crime & prostitution alongside posh call centres & reality game shows promising millions. The proverbial – India with all its contradictions! Was I expecting more from the movie? Definitely since it is being billed as a contender for an Oscar or two!

Anyway, I think I’ll remember the movie the most for young Jamaal’s potty dive. It deserves 10/10 for its gross factor. The scene goes -
Young Jamaal is in a make-shift rickety public toilet attending to his business when he hears a frenzy building up outside, where, apparently Amitabh Bachchan is arriving in a helicopter. Since the door seems to be locked from outside, he decides to make his way out from the only accessible opening – the one below. He holds a dog-eared photograph of Amitabh (which he was carrying to the loo) high above his head & covers his nose with the other & dives into the pool of shit. The photograph survives the ordeal while Jamaal goes head deep. He wades out, covered in shit & runs into the gathering crowd which hastily gives way on being elbowed by shit boy. Unchallenged, he triumphantly runs upto to ‘Amitabh’ & gets that dream autograph on his only clean possession!

I daresay this scene promises to became as infamous as the ear cutting scene from Reservoir Dogs. I am wondering – is it the ‘dog’ moniker which invites such scenes to movies!?

Go watch

Update: I read that the Indian version is called Slumdog Crorepati (WTF?) & is completely in Hindi. The movie (both versions) releases in India on Jan 23, 2008.

Chennai: First impressions

Ho hum I’ve landed in Chennai & been here for almost two weeks; here are some first impressions -

1. The weather is not as bad as I made it out to be (This is not saying much since it’s Winter & the papers say that some ‘coldest day’ records are tumbling!)
2. People on the streets are helpful & even go out of their way to assist you
3. Public transport seems to be good. Bus service is regular & connects plenty of places. There are dedicated shared rickshaws (the big four-stroke variety running on LPG) which join nearby points.
4. The city gives the impression of being only a big South Indian city & not a metro. It is still behind Mumbai, Delhi, Bangalore, Hyderabad & Chandigarh in terms of impact value.
5. Real estate & food are not as cheap as I thought. Same as Bangalore perhaps! (Cost of living going up)
6. The working population is largely Tamilian. I was used to the Mumbai mix…
7. Any random guy you meet & want to address is a ‘Saar’(sir). I have had educated middle aged men addressing me in this fashion

That’s all I can think of. More as i go along…

I use public transport

I prefer to use public transport. I have been living in Mumbai for the past three years & can afford a two wheeler (I think!) but I have never felt the need to go & buy one. I still manage to get around quite well though. I avoid autorichshaws. My primary mode of transport is the local train & the BEST bus.  Just last week I took one of friends on a sight seeing trip of Mumbai. I showed him everything from Siddhivinayak Temple, Haji Ali Dargah, Girgaum Chowpatty, Marine Drive, Gateway of India, Bandstand, Bandra fort to the Inorbit mall. Most of the journey was covered in local trains. Cabs & ricks were taken for short distances once we alighted at the station nearest to the landmark. That too since time was of the essence & I didn’t want to inconvenience my friend too much who apparently has become used to the English way of life.
Following are the positives of public transport (for me, at least)-

1. My lungs breath easier — If I’m in a rick, it feels like I’m breathing from a firehose. Pollution, BTW is a bitch in Mumbai.

2. Less stressful — Driving can be a very stressful activity & I’m thankful that it has been ‘outsourced’ to a professional driver. He takes care of the honking, overtaking & swearing.

3. Cheaper — In these inflationary times where crude costs $145/bbl, it definitely is easier on the wallet

4. Eco-friendly — Mother Nature would be a lot happier if more people took to public transport. Imagine being in a bus, stuck in a traffic jam; Now think what would happen if all the people in the bus were in their own cars on the roads! Traveling by public transport would reduce our carbon footprint. Our posterity would thank us for being austere occasionally.

5. Healthier – Walking (the oldest mode of transport ) definitely is good for health & also gives me a chance to absorb the streets of Mumbai better.

6. Romantic/Adventurous (occasionally) – In my opinion, Mumbai’s double decker buses are quite romantic & have an old world charm about them. Take a ride in them before they get retired! Hanging out of a local train with only a pole for support and the wind blowing through your hair is definitely thrilling but could be foolish as well (Er, I do it sometimes)

7. On a personal note, I love to cock a snook at autowallahs, who are somewhat of a necessary evil in Mumbai. They have a habit of not agreeing to come just when you need them the most. Definitely the case in Andheri where I live. If it rains, these chaps become real choosy. Same when it’s the rush hour! No harm in making them cool their heels once in a while

Sometimes I’ve arrived late, sometimes an encounter with the unwashed masses in the trains has made me feel violated; but this is something of a personal choice for me – something that I’ve stuck by. I would love to see more of my friends & family use the public mode of transport.

So keep the change ready & hop on!