My New Passion -
Video Editing
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LLXJmbaKse4
I could not embed the video. Does Xanga allow video embedding? Does anybody know? The Help files did not provide an answer.
I hope you like my video. Please let me know. More coming. I am getting better in this art.
Shoban Sen
http://bestnetguru.com/
Just like every year, tall ships are currently gracing Boston Harbor. Forty-five vessels from 17 countries have arrived in the Boston Harbor for Sail Boston 2009, which takes place from July 8 to 13. These Tall Ships started from Spain in May as part of the Tall Ships Atlantic Challenge, a trans-Atlantic regatta. From Boston, the ships will proceed to Halifax, Nova Scotia on July 13. The regatta will end in Belfast, Northern Ireland.
The ships are docked in various piers and wharfs in Boston Harbor. I went to Boston's Seaport World Trade Center today to see some of the ships and took some pictures which I am sharing here with fellow Xangans. If interested, you can see the full-size, high resolution pictures at:
http://www.worldisround.com/articles/354179/index.html
Here I am including only 10% versions of the orinigal pictures.
I hope you like the pictures.
Shoban Sen
http://bestnetguru.com/
Advice for My Unseen Friend
and Wellwisher
Dear Friend:
As much as I appreciate your affection and concern about me, and your following me around, in disguise, in my different sites including this one, I am concerned about your wellbeing too. I have much more experience about life in general than yourself. I understand your situation, and difficulties about contacting me directly. I can promise you that nobody will ever know that you are still keeping some touch with me through electronic media. But for your own good, I advice you not to impersonate to hide your identity. Identity theft is a serious crime and is punishable by law. The elaborate scheme you adopted last time in one of my other sites was unbelievable. Please don't do it in the future. You will be in trouble.
I know, sooner or later, you will come back to this site. So I am leaving this friendly advice for you here.
Best wishes,
Shoban Sen
http://bestnetguru.com/
June 30, 2009
A Day of Mixed Emotions
Today was my last day at work. I am a FREE man now. Effective July 1, 2009 I will be RETIRED. I am ecstatic. I was looking for this for a long time.
It was a day of mixed emotions at work. On one hand I was so glad that I was finally retiring. On the other hand, it brought tears to my eyes because I was leaving my long-time colleagues. They were in tears too. They gave me lots of expensive gifts and a fat scrapbook documenting our work life together. The scrapbook has many, many pictures and everybody's hand-written notes in it. We were like a family.
It remains to be seen what kind of emotions I wake-up with tomorrow morning. Would I be sad or would I be happy? I will not miss work I know. But would I miss my colleagues or would I say to myself, "Thank God. I am a free bird now. I don't have to serve anybody any more. I shall only pursue my own hobbies and interests from now on, whatever I want, whenever I want?"
Shoban Sen
http://bestnetguru.com/
To My Secret Admirer
Dear Secret Admirer:
I don't know who you are, but I can guess. It feels good to know that you (almost) do not want to forget me, yet you are not bold enough to contact me directly. You want to remain a mystery. You want to remain under cover. But the very fact that you know where to find me is my biggest clue. You closed your Xanga account, and now you cannot resist the temptation of posting comments as an outsider. You do whatever you want. You change your name, you change your gender, but I know who you are. And I really feel good that your shadow is still following me. I take it as a compliment.
I cannot ask you questions directly. Because this site is for public. But let me just ask you this: Is that caste problem still coming between you and "G" ? How is the Lieutenant? Are you still working at the same place? How many aliases do you have now? I can see a new one right here in Xanga. But I still prefer to call you "A" rather than "G" (certainly not "E").
By the way, I am going to retire effective July 1. Then I shall make many more Web sites. I have just published a new one day before yesterday. Why don't you take a look at it here. My birthday is approaching. It is in April. Why don't you send me a birthday card?
You can still e-mail me at the old address. That address is still good.
So long,
Shoban Sen
http://bestnetguru.com/
Gay/Lesbian Magnets
I am waiting to see someday, an M.I.T. genious creating gay/lesbian magnets where like poles will attract and opposite poles will repel. I am sure it will happen in my lifetime, and such magnets will have tremendous industrial demand as they will be able to do new miracles that are thought to be impossible hitherto.
Just a passing thought. I am neither a physicist nor an engineer. Just a dreamer.
Shoban Sen
http://bestnetguru.com/
Bollywood versus Hollywood
I was planning to write on this topic for a very long time. But laziness (actually more important things that I needed to attend to first) always won - and I could not get myself to write on this topic.
Did anybody watch NBC nightly news with Brian Williams tonight (February 19, 2009)? Those stunts that you see in Hollywood movies are usually done with the help of computers, most people know that. But what most people did not know (but I knew) was the fact that most of those computer animations are made thousands of miles away from Hollywood - in Bombay, India (home of Indian movies popularly known as "Bollywood"). Hey, Brian gave the reason also -- Indians have better imagination and they have a strong grasp on the language called English. (Not to talk about technical expertise.) Surprised?
Don't be. India will soon emerge as the super-power of the world (along with China). So stop using those out-of-date words like Third World Country, backward country, poorest of the poor, and all that. Wake up America. The table has turned. Mind your own business. Try to turn your economy around. Find jobs for millions. Then criticize others. Just yesterday, CNN reported that according to leading economists, America's standard of living has gone down forever. It is a permanent thing. America will never get out of this. You know why? Because of America's false ego. "We are the best" attitude. Today, more than half of the world hates America. Even then average Americans, many of whom have never gone out of the country, still have this "couldn't care less attitude". Wake up, before it is really too late. Learn about, and understand other countries, their people, their belief, their religion, their way of life, and above all learn to respect other countries. Don't contribute to America's doom. A country's good or bad depends on its population. Just the Government cannot do much.
Talking about Bollywood, does Hollywood have any movie that ran in a movie theater for OVER 12 YEARS at a stretch? India's Dilwale Dulhania Le Jayenge (DDLJ for short) has that world record. Before that record, Sholay ran for over 7 years in a movie theater continuously. Does Hollywood have any such movie? Did you know that Bollywood movies are watched by one-third of world's population? Ouside India, Bollywood movies are popular in Pakistan (pirated DVD disks go there), Bangladesh, Nepal, Srilanka, the Middle-East, many African countries (especially East African countries), many East European countries, and so forth. What is more, due to high worldwide demand, many Bollywood movies these days are released internationally, meaning they are released in India along with places like New York, Los Angeles, London, Berlin, etc. on the same day! I almost forgot to mention that Bollywood, on an average, makes about 1000 movies in a year. Hollywood produces about half as many.
And everybody knows how many Oscars Slumdog Millionaire has been nominated for this year.
Shoban Sen
http://bestnetguru.com/
Does anybody know who Vyjayanthimala Bali is? She is a Bollywood mega-star of the 50's and 60's. Many of you were not even born when she was acting in films. She started acting in films in late 40's and after reigning the Hindi film world for about 20 years as the super-heroine, who conquered the hearts of all her audience, she quit the movie world in 1968 when she got married. She was at the peak of her form and fame at the time.
Vyjayanthimala is not just an actress. She is a professional Indian classical (Bharatanatyam) dancer. She is the first professional dancer to become a film heroine in Bollywood (Bombay+Hollywood) who introduced the trend of semi-classical dancing in Hindi movies which is so popular all over the world.
After quitting the films, Vyjayanthimala continued to dance (which happens to be her first love), and also picked up golfing. She is an accomplished golfer and have played in National Championships (15 handicap). She was also a member of the Indian Parliament. She was elected to the Loksabha (Lower House of the Parliament) twice and was nominated to the Rajyasabha (Upper House of the Parliament) once. Vyjayanthimala literally travelled all over the world to perform her art on stage. She was the first Indian dancer to give a Bharatanatyam recital for the United Nations 20th Anniversary Celebrations of the Human Rights Day in New York in 1969.
Vyjayanthimala is well over 70 now and she still lives an active life in Chennai (formerly Madras), India. She runs a classical Bharatanatyam dance and music school called Natyalaya Academy there. She is also very actively involved in social work like women's and children's welfare, and works for the wellbeing of the poor and the downtrodden.
Vyjayanthimala is a living legend of our times. To pay respect to her and to show my affection to her, I have created a web site called Vyjayanthimala - A Personal Tribute. I invite all of you to visit the site to read more about her, see her photo galleries, and see video clips from her movies including some of her dancing in movies. The web site was officially published on March 10, the date of her marriage. Coincidentally, March 10 is the date of my marriage too!
Note: This blog was originally posted on April 8, 2007. My site has recently moved. So I updated the link today.
Shoban Sen
Bestnetguru.com
The Head That Saves Me Money
I owe a lot to my head. Over its lifetime it has saved me a bundle. At least, equivalent to two European vacations and still counting!
It saves me money in two ways. First, the cost of maintaining its external appearance. That is close to zero. Let me explain.
Till the age of about 18, like any other regular guy, I used to use hair care products like shampoo, hairoil or Brylcream (a brand that was available in India in my days that made the hair shiny and glossy and held the hair in place much like hairsprays). I also used to see the barber at least once every month to get a haircut. All these things, of course, cost money. Then I started losing hair and started saving more money, because of reason number two explained in the next paragraph. When I was about 25, I became completely bald and my head looked the way as it looks now at age 67 (please see my profile picture)! The cost of hair care products became zero (or close to it) as I had no hair. Well, I still had to see the barber (they charge much less in India for a haircut -- in my time it was just pennies -- now I guess it would be about a dollar) once a month to trim the little hair that I have on the sides of my head and on the back of my neck, and may be I shampooed twice a month. So normal hair maintenance cost came down to about zero when I was about 25 years old! Thank you, God! By the way, I forgot to mention, for the last 30 years or so, ever since I came to America, I do NOT see a barber anymore to trim the sides of my head. I do it myself with an electric trimmer I bought from K-Mart on sale for $19.99. 30 years ago, in my hometown in America, the cheapest barber charged $10 for a haircut (no discount for baldies) plus at least $2 tips brought the total cost to $12 for a haircut. So the cost of my trimmer was realized in less than two months since the time I became a do-it-yourselfer in the hair trimming department. I don't even know how much the barbers charge these days for a man's haircut, but I do know that over the years I have saved a lot of money on haircuts.
Now, reason #2 or the second way my head saves me a bundle. The head is the place inside which resides intelligence -- even dumbs know that, right? When I first started losing hair before age 20, many people suggested I "do something" about it. Remember, it was early 1960's. Rogaine was not discovered then. Hair grafting, hair transplant, men's hair club etc. did not exist anywhere. I remember, there was a Dr. Digo who used to advertise regularly in Calcutta daily newspapers as the expert "hair doctor" with 29 years experience in England and Europe who could treat pre-mature baldness successfully. Of course, he charged a great deal for consultation. He would have his patients return every two weeks for follow-up, he would go over the patient's bald head with a huge lighted, magnifying glass and declare he could see very delicate baby hairs germinating on the scalp. "Keep using the lotion and see me in two weeks" was always his verdict (and, of course, one had to buy the lotion from him at a premium price)! One of my collegemates, Pinaki Nath Pal (not his real name), spent hundreds of rupees on Dr. Digo trying to stop pre-mature balding. (Our college tution fee was Rs.17, and total expenses for board and lodging in the college dorm, tution, laundry, pocket money etc. all inclusive was approximately Rs.100 per month at that time!) Do you think he got any results? Certainly not. I was smart from my childhood days. I knew nobody could help me for my hereditary baldness. So I did not do anything to prevent full baldness and SAVED MY MONEY.
Hair deserted my head, but not intelligence. I never fall for the ever-increasing scams and money ripping baits that surround us everyday. The other day, I went grocery shopping in our local supermarket. I usually buy two donuts at a time. I saw a woman in front of me filling a large plastic bag with donuts. When she finished, I said, "That's a lot of donuts. You must have a large family." She replied, "Just stocking up. They are on sale today." I looked at the sign over the case of donuts. It said, "SALE. 3 for $2". Regular price of a donut is 69 cents. My mental calculation said the saving on 3 donuts is 7 cents or about 2 cents per donut! So I bought what I usually buy -- just 2 donuts. Then I went to the health food aisle to pick up my usual Kashi "Go Lean" cereal. The regular price for that is $3.69 per box. It was on sale that day -- 2 for $5. I immediately grabbed 6 boxes. With a saving of $1.69 per box, it was worth stocking up especially when I eat that every morning.
So my head continues to save me money, and it has been doing that at least for the last 40-45 years. Thank you, head. I am really grateful to you. May be you have saved me enough money again so that I can take another trip to India soon. I better start making plans.
Shoban Sen
Bestnetguru.com
Happy New Year
Before I start drinking let me quickly wish Happy New Year to all Xangans. It snowed heavily here today (about 8 inches). Current temp. is 14 degrees. Good thing that we didn't have to go to work today. So, me and my wife shoveled snow -- cleaned the stairs, the sidewalk, the driveway, and dug the car out. Luckily, the snow was light and fluffy. So it was not that back breaking.
I am glad that this year is coming to an end. I am looking forward to 2009. Because I shall retire in 2009, in April or May. Then we shall move to Florida. Bye, bye New England, bye bye snow, bye bye arctic cold. We have endured enough of these stupid things in the last 28 or so years. I came to USA from India. I saw snow for the first time in my life after coming to USA. I was about 40 years old then. For the first few years, we really enjoyed the snow. But now? I hate it. I really hate it.
I have done enough web sites. Now my interest is shifting to video editing and making home movies. I am going to buy a late model HD camcorder pretty soon. I was going to buy it last month. Then I thought Christmas will bring big credit card bill. Let me not add more to the bill. So I postponed my plan of buying a new camcorder. I think I might buy it in January or February. I already bought a good software for eding my videos. I have already made some home movies with that and Windows Movie Maker. You can see them in my YouTube Channel. But I am planning to promote myself to the next higher level of video editing (I definitely need a better camcorder) -- things like Picture-in-Picture, and all that. It is going to be a lot of fun.
So long today. I am feeling very thirsty now. It is the New Year's eve thirst. I am not going out in this kind of weather. Hey, I'm not 25 anymore -- I'm almost 68. My wife and my bottle is best company for me. We'll celebrate at home.
Bye now. Don't drink and drive!
Shoban Sen
Bestnetguru.com
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