HERE IS FREE ENGLISH DICTIONARY

WordWeb Dictionary

Referring a dictionary is a good habit.  It would build up your vocabulary.  So whenever you find a difficult word, make it a habit to refer dictionary thereby your vocabulary improves.  It should be a life-long ritual.

But in this digital era, referring to hard copy dictionary is rather monstrous.  You must take the aid of technology and this free soft-dictionary is a boon for your desktop as other  dictionary softwares  come for a price.

I find, word-web dictionary the best  free dictionary software which caters all your vocabulary needs.  It is a must software to install on your computer. When the word power is built on daily basis, your power of expression becomes richer.

OM SWAMI - THE JOURNEY FROM CORPORATE WALLS TO HIMALAYAS

The Hindu, India's National Newspaper on 23rd December, 2014 brought out an interesting piece of article captioned " A Monk's take'.  It is a journey of a man from corporate walls to Himalayas in search of Happiness.

In his new life as monk, he is  Om Swami.  He has a dedicated website http://omswami.com/.

Being not satisfied  with the information, I tried to  dig deep into his past corporate life, but his website's  "About' page retrieves back with following about him :

My achievement is not what I have,
My introduction is not what I do,
It is but who I am.
A nobody.

I sing I laugh I dance I clap,
A speck of dust in the infinite creation,
A vast ocean in the tiny dew drop,
A Himalayan stream,
The still mountain,

A WEBSITE ON CRIME RECORDS IN INDIA

NCRB Website header

Crime records give lot of insights for law & order scenario in the country.  The crime-related statistics are an important tool for writers, bloggers or freelancers when they write issues on society or crime-related issues.

National Crime Records Bureau is the attached office of Ministry of  Home Affairs, Government of India. It has 762 server based computer systems at every District Crime Records Bureau and State Crime Records Bureau, across the country to maintain a national level database of crimes, criminals and property related crime in India.

HOW TO UPDATE YOURSELF WITH LATEST IN SCIENCE

NASA

There was a time when it used to take so much time for getting updated with latest developments in the field  of science.  Scientific journals are the only source for getting the crucial information for common man.  But this decade has changed that trend.

Now, you can instantly update information in various categories in Google News which grabs the feeds from various websites.  But science news is selective and it may not give update fully.   If you want to update yourself  with latest inputs in the field of science, America's topmost research agency, NASA is the best bet.

FOLDER LOCK APP

Folder Lock App

Mobile phone or tablet computer has become an extended organ in these days.  It is so productive for on-the-go life.

The Android platform has countless free apps in Google Playstore.  One such app is Folder Lock which I recently installed in my Android phone.

Folder Lock with  nice interface is a great app which I have been looking for some time.  It is a perfect app to save your private videos, photos and highly sensitive data files.  Once you download and install it, it creates a dormant folder either on your phone memory or memory card to save all the stuff.

The app facilitates with a password and you need to key in password every time to open the stuff inside folder lock.  At the time of installation, you are asked to provide your personal email address which will be used to send unlock code in case you forget your password.

5 MINUTES YOGA & 1 MINUTE MEDITATION

My Yoga Asanas/Meditation

Renowned Yoga Guru BKS Iyengar once said that youth needs more of Yoga today!' But youth is not giving credence to it. It is often  considered as a spiritual practice.  It is time to come out from that orthodox  notion.

Yoga is simply not a physical exercise. It has a lot more. Though, myself read about Yoga and even Patanjali Yoga Sutras  with commentary on it by Swami Vivekananda in his famous book 'Raja Yoga, little I did to put into practice in my adult life. 

But, two years back, my sedentary lifestyle had taken its toll and my spine and leg joints became feeble and I find it difficult to climb even to staircase to reach my third floor home. That bitter experience turned me towards yoga when   I accidentally saw a Youtube video which is an interview of Yoga Guru BKS Iyengar with NDTV Chief  Dr. Pranoy Roy.

VETERAN SOUTH INDIAN FILM DIRECTOR K. BALACHANDER IS DEAD

Courtesy: Wikipedia

Two stalwarts of  South Indian cinema are his products – Kamal Haasan and Rajinikanth.

Veteran film director K. Balachander  breathed his last yesterday evening (23.12.2014) due to age-related problems. He is 84. He left a rich legacy behind him.  In  his  marathon film career of 45 years  which was started as a screenwriter, Balachander is man behind the successful careers of so many South Indian actors and technicians.

 All his stories are weaved around middle-class families.

Apart from Tamil films, Balachander  also did some notable Telugu films like Rudraveena, Aakali Rajyam, Idi Kdha Kaadu, Maro Charithra and Anthuleni Katha which are blockbuster  movies during those times.  

NIGHT SHELTER FOR HOMELESS IN DELHI

For the last four days, Delhi is under the grip of biting cold.  Today by the time of writing this post which is mid-afternoon 2 pm, the temperature is chilling at 16° C.

Normal life in Delhi is out of sync for the last four days as day temperatures fell suddenly. I stopped going to my office on auto rickshaw and using the Delhi Metro instead for commute.

The severe cold has torn apart normalcy in Delhi and made work life more drowsy.  No doubt that I am quite enjoying the warmth of underground metro station  near to my work point. Mother Earth is so great that its lap is always warm.  Perhaps due to this, the passing stream beneath  a river or tank is always warm even in winters,  compare to our stored water tanks.

THIS IS SUN AND NOT MOON !

CENTENARIAN ZOHRA SEHGAL

To live long is not easy that  too in a healthy body and mind. Only few are blessed.

How you perceive life that determines your forward years.  History reveals that those who give credence to health  and emotional life have lived long.  First of all, you must have vigour to live and when that fire douses, you become  like a deadwood even if you stay in the body !

The life of centenarians offers so much wisdom.

Since, my childhood days, I used to closely watch the lives of aged people, especially those who live longer like my grandmother who lived above 80 years.

A DAY IN THE LIFE OF A SUCCESSFUL BLOGGER

A successful blogger is a celebrity these days.  I find two Agrawals that are ruling the Indian blogging world.  One is Harsh Agrawal whose blog shoutmeloud.com   is pegged at 283 as per Alexa India rank  and Amit Agarwal's Digital Inspiration is at 530 (as on 21.12.2014).

YOGI VEMANA - A TELUGU PHILOSOPHER AND POET

Yogi Vemana

His small verses in vernacular Telugu are so popular in Andhra Pradesh, India.  They are simply not poems but are snippets of wisdom.

Being a proud Andhraite, it is my bounden duty to introduce great people of Andhra to my blogger world.  Though somebody might have written about him, the story from different minds come in different hues.

Being  spiritual means wake up to the reality of life.  For some people, it comes instantly and for some others, it is a treacherous path. There is an adage in Telugu that a 'bhogi is bound to become yogi'  in course of time.   Vemana's life is a journey from 'bhogi' to 'Yogi'.

DELHI's AFTERNOON SUN ON MY LENS

Delhi's afternoon Sun 

BOOK REVIEW : THE UNIVERSE INSIDE YOU by BRIAN CLEGG

Book

When you update yourself with latest scientific developments, you get a jaw-dropping revelations which slide you into more astonishment.

Nobel laureate Max Planck once said that science can't solve the ultimate mystery of nature. And that is because, in the last analysis, we ourselves are part of  mystery that we are trying to solve. But that can't stop us from doing scientific research which is taking us to new frontiers.

The book "The Universe inside you' by Brian Clegg is such a minefield of scientific information that would surge your scientific temper. Irrespective of stream you studied in your academics , it is a book that must be read to know more about human body and functioning of brain. Here there should not be an argument that my genre is fiction or something other etc. Some books that provide you basic information should be swallowed like hot peanuts.

BOOK REVIEW : A SHORT HISTORY OF NEARLY EVERYTHING

We have books separately on science and humanities. In fact there is no such division and it is only made for our convenience in understanding. Imagine a book is in front of you knitting  everyday science and humanities together as an interesting volume. 

The same happened here. An author caught your imagination and wrote a book  answering  to all haunting questions !

The book is US's National Best Seller. New York Times described it "Destined to become a modern classic of science writing'.

Bill Bryson's book " A short history of nearly everything' is a book which must adorn your personal library as it has a treasure trove of information relevant to current needs.

SHINING SUN CAUGHT TO MY MOBILE

EMPEROR OF ENTERTAINMENT : RAJ KAPOOR

                                 Above is my all time favourite Raj Kapoor Song

Sometimes, I forget to pray but not  browse the internet.  Google is the presiding deity of internet and you can say, it is its daily face.  When I opened browser on my mobile today morning, Raj Kapoor was shown on Google's Logo indicating  his 90th birthday.

BEAUTY ON MY BACKYARD

BOOK REVIEW : THE MAGIC OF REALITY

If you want to know what the science did so far to humanity, you must read this interesting book. The science here is explained in clearest terms. It is not a simple casual read and you must come back and forth to get answers some of the curious questions the children ask us on science.

The book explains in simple prose on space, time and evolution laced with humour and clever thought experiments. You get very straight answers to some of the baffling questions like How old is the Universe ? What causes tsunamis ? What was the first man, or woman ?

Writing a difficult concept in simple prose is not easy and it demands tremendous mental energies. When you write science for common folks, the task becomes  tougher. French philosopher Blaise Pascal rightly says that I have made this letter longer than usual, only because I have not had the time to make it shorter. It means, to make anything simple, it occupies much time and the benefit is obvious : message goes straight into readers' minds.

MY PHOTOGRAPHY : DELHI's WINTER SUN

PARENTAL LESSONS ON SMART PHONE

One piece of news on 30th of last month (Nov. 2014) in  a prominent English Daily hit me very hard.   It was an incident that occurred in Delhi  the previous day where one juvenile killed a young neighbour boy named Ganesh  when he failed to get  ransom from the boy's father.  The intention to kidnap the boy was to get money to purchase an iPhone and lead a lavish lifestyle.

If we go into the details, the juvenile stabbed the boy to death and to confirm it he slit his throat.  He made a call to the boy's father with a stolen phone of another neighbour.  After the barbarous act, the juvenile returned home and cleverly washed his clothes to hush up the episode.

FREE E-BOOK ON PERSONALITY DEVELOPMENT

Most of folks in India may not know him but in America if you ask anyone, he/she would  tell his success story.

He is a simple janitor (the guy standing in front of Gate in a big restaurant in cities).  But he rose to the pinnacle of success by  helping people in realizing their potential.

I read his much-acclaimed book ''Awaken the Giant within'' in 2005 which is an interesting discourse on 'personality development.  He offers so many interesting tips  and one should not have missed to read it.

The leading America's business magazine, Forbes in its website says that Tony Robbins is one of the 'Top 200 Business Gurus' in 2003 and reaching over 4 million people from 100 countries with his life and business mastery books, products and services.

His life is rags to riches with a net worth estimated at $480 million dollars.

MARKETING STRATEGY OF MOMOS WALA' IN DELHI

Ever since, I started blogging, one trait I earned is paying attention literally to everything I do.  The goal is obvious : To get the stuff   for my blog posts. Here, no commercial interests that dictate my desire, but simply to share stories from my lens/view point.

I have no hesitation to say that I share the same vision like Google Founders Larry Page and Sergy Brin where the information should power each individual on this planet.  This motto is the  prime driver  when I first mooted the idea to start a blog and KNOWEB, the acronym for Knowledge Web is born out of this noble mission  more than three and half years ago.   The  "O" in KNOWEB symbolizes our Planet Earth and I strongly believe that   one day internet penetrates to every living habitat on the Earth.

The inspiration to make effective this blog more attractive  now comes  from a roadside eatery. The other day, while I was shopping with family in the upmarket Lajpat Nagar in New Delhi, this Momos wala's billboard caught my attention.  It has a catchy slogan  "Yeh Dil Maange Mor'' that triggered  an idea to find  ways to drive more traffic for my blog. The strategy I want to adopt is to choose a straight route : Give Information that gives value to the end user - Netizen. 

The business acumen of this momos wala is surely an envy to  a business graduate ! 

TAKE A SHORT BREAK FROM ROUTINE AND WATCH THIS AMAZING SONG OF GAANA.COM

No words here ! Only music. I feel it as a tribute to Indian music  with beautiful lyrics.  The video is visual feast and depicts of  how  music  affects our daily life of all hues.  For each emotion there is a song and this  youthful song must grab your attention ! 

PUSHING BOUNDARIES IN HALF MARATHON

When I watched a 3 minute youtube video to write the story  of  my friend who participated in the recently concluded Airtel Delhi Half Marathon on 23rd November, 2014, the visuals of event exuberated my mood.

The object of any such marathons is to raise the awareness on health and it is the need of the hour for  a country like India which has the highest youth population in the world. The motto of  the  organisers is to inspire the youth, the main target group to raise their fitness levels.

But in this event, more than youth,  it attracted  middle-aged people and one among them is a Mr. Ravi, 50.

With his wiry frame but radiant eyes, fully combed envious black  hair,  Ravi  is a fitness freak. He is working as Inspector in Central Industrial Security Force (CISF, Govt. of India, Ministry of Home Affairs) but is presently on deputation as  Principal Private Secretary (PPS) to Appellate Tribunal for Electricity, New Delhi.

Six months ago, a desire to participate in the Marathon put him on track. Since then, he started his practice without affecting his daily routine.

BLADE RUNNER

Courtesy : Airtel Delhi Half Marathon 2014

If you are in Army, the life there teaches you greater lessons, more so steely resolve to weather all difficulties in life. The above is Major D.P. Singh, often referred to as the Blade Runner. In fact, he was severely injured in July 1999, during the Kargil War and still has shrapnel embedded in his body. He is  India's first blade runner, showing the world the spirit of a true warrior. Participated in the recent Airtel Delhi Half Marathon on 23rd November, 2014.

MUSIC MANTRA

“Music gives a soul to the universe, wings to the mind, flight to the imagination and life to everything.”

                                                            - Plato

 I have never seen anybody who don't like music. Because music is your rhythm, your life force.  Famous English writer Aldous Huxley says that after silence, that which comes nearest to expressing the inexpressible is music.

Music like a taste of a particular cuisine has its own flavour. I can't live a day without music.  It  soothes my soul.  My computer, my mobile phone are loaded with music  of different genres -  regional music like Telugu, Tamil, Kannada, Hindi,Western etc.

I can't distinguish between old and new.