Goodbye 2007, Welcome 2008

Well today is the last day of 2007 and something which will go into the past and can never be regained. It was not a bad year for me, pretty OK i guess since it was also a year which brought some changes and good luck in life and not at all depressing like 2006 which was really bad for me.

So many things to be remembered, so many things to cherish and love...Humm the past was both good and bad, but hoping and praying that the NEW YEAR of 2008 is going to be spectacular and also a year where major changes will happen and major decisions will be taken.

Of all the 27 years in my life, the best years for me were 2003 to 2005 which were spent in Chennai, in a wonderful college with spectacular friends. I did well both academically and socially; got to make good friends who i cherish, love and miss so much now and will always be a part of my life; had the 2 best years of my life and enjoyed it. Well what more can i ask for? I know that i can never get those days back even though i do keep wishing for it. But life goes on and the world moves on...

That were also the years that helped me know my fiancee more and helped grow a strong friendship and bond with him, and it was also 2 years filled with joy, happiness, tears and enjoyment. The years which i will always remember and keep in my heart and value because of the best friends i got in life.

2006 isn't worth mentioning as it was a depressing and tiresome and also sentimental year for me and am really glad that its over.

2007 gave me a good job in a place that i am really comfortable at and am really lucky to be at. And its also a year where some good and bad things happened, but still some major decisions for the future were taken too. 2007 also gave me a chance to connect with lots of long lost friends and made me value friendship a lot.

I am looking forward to 2008 with lots of hopes and hope that it will bring luck and that it will be a prosperous year for me an also for all those around me. I have also decided to take some resolutions which i hope that i will be able to stick to as its the first set of resolutions for me. I just hope that the future will bring lots of good luck and that all our dreams will come true. And i do hope that my major plans and decisions for 2008 will work out well.

I am thanking the good Lord for all the blessings that he has given and showered upon me in life, for the wonderful parents, a wonderful brother and also for a wonderful partner to share my life with.

"May all your dreams turn into reality and all your efforts into great achievements. May the New Year bring new hopes, new promises and new reasons to celebrate your presence in your lives.
May this New Year adorn your life with many beautiful things and sweet memories to cherish forever. And care of those whom the heart holds close, along with abundant joys and happiness, for you and your family. May all the dreams in your eyes, all the desires in your heart and all the hopes in your life blend together, to give you the most spectacular New Year ever."

"Wishing you life's best this New Year, Have a joyful & prosperous 2008"

So what is a Blog and howcome its the latest tool for PR?

Well what can i say about this. Even though i have been a blogger for more than an year, i still cant define it. I do know that there are many technical definitions for it like : "A blog (a portmanteau of web log) is a website where entries are commonly displayed in reverse chronological order", "A BLOG is a publication of personal thoughts, experiences, and web links. It is updated frequently and is usually a mixture of what is happening in a person's life and what is happening on the web or in the media. ..." etc etc... For me its just my own personal or private space where i can express my thoughts, feelings, opinions etc freely.

Until a few months back, i never got the chance to study various blogs and its importance and also only did this as part of my research work. But now i seem to be more involved in it as we are coming up with a Public Relations conference in February 2008 and the theme is "The New Trends In Communication". For this i had to first come up with the latest topics and tools related to PR and even had to find international speakers who are specialized in these areas.

Blogging seems to be working wonders for the PR area and its seems its easier for editors to go through many blogs to get articles and so on and that you can either boost or destroy an organisation through blogs. Well like any other area, blogs have their negatives and positives too and when misused can cause a lot of damage.

Well its true that i am going nuts over this one because technology seems to be progressing every second and i have to run unbearably fast to keep up (at least with the basics).And worst part is there are too many things to know. Anyway i did learn how important RSS feeds are today for PR and that there is some new device called "KINDLE" Amazon's new digital content reader which sold out within 5.5 hours upon its first release and that it could cause some kind of PR revolution.

Well who knew all this. As it is everything is a revolution by itself for me, so whats the difference if its KINDLE or RSS feeds or Online media rooms or blogging...As my research work continues for this particular magazine that we are coming up with for the PR conference, i find that there are plenty of topics and articles which are also opening up a new world of knowledge for me and i hope that it will help the organizations in Kuwait too.

But what would be helpful is if any of you know anything new about PR, blogging, and all that stuff do send in information as this will help me a lot in providing the people out here with better information on such latest trends.

And the revolution for me is- I have started subscribing to so many RSS feeds that i don't get the time to check all this. But anyway i seem to be putting in more time and effort into at least going through many blogs and also do put in my comments.

Wow everything now seems to be revolutionizing PR and is a new tool for PR. Surprising Na? Full scale advertising and PR campaigns are now done via the Mobile Device --- The "Third Screen" and also through YouTube. Well what other developments can happen other than all this???

Am I A Feminist

You Are 73% Feminist

You are certainly a feminist - whether you know it or not. You believe in gender equality, at least most of the time. You also believe there are a few exceptions.

Are You a Feminist?

How Feminine Am I?

You Can Hang With the Guys and the Girls

You've struck a good balance between girlie and laid back. You can keep it casual but when you dress up, you are as girly as the next girl.

How Feminine Are You?

Kuwait Conference on Public Relations 2008

Kuwait Conference On Public Relations 2008

February 12 &13, 2008 – JW Marriott Hotel – Kuwait

The New Trends in Communications

Conference Overview:

Multaqa Media Group has the pleasure to welcome you to Kuwait Conference on Public Relations 2008 in association with IPRA – GC; International Public Relations Association – Gulf Chapter.

The Conference on Public Relations offers you a group of leading regional and international PR experts and practitioners that will put within your hands the latest thinking approaches to best practice professional public relations. The conference covers most of the latest trends and topics in Public Relations which will help every PR person and most organisations.

The conference sessions and workshops offers something for everyone. You have got to put what you've learned into practice with the help and guidance of experts in the field of PR. Valuable sessions and workshops will be addressed that will enhance your PR skills and avail you the chance to gain the expertise and meet the challenges of PR.

For more details please check: http://www.multaqagroup.com/

As the plot thickens!!!

Looks like things are going really out of control in Pakistan. Contradictory statements about Benazir Bhutto's death are creating lots of confusion and the riots just seem to be increasing. I kept switching channels and checked out a couple of newspapers and everywhere it's the same contradictory headings which are going to create huge problems for President Musharraf and his government.

Some of the scandalized headings are: "Islamabad accused of cover-up"; "Pakistan rejects foreign assistance in probe" etc. And the most shocking one is that Al-Qaeda denies having any link with the assassination. So now who is responsible? That is a million dollar question right? Pakistan government keeps telling its Al-Qaeda and Qaeda keeps denying it. Well in this case i do believe Qaeda because they usually take responsibility for many assassinations and if they are denying such a big incident then its true.

Well something will have to be done soon by the Pakistan government instead of trying to cover up things in front of the whole world, especially when many people saw the entry and exit bullet wounds in Benazir's head. So with so many witnesses for this, how can the government still deny that no bullets were found in Benazir's skull etc? How can they still stick to the fact that she died after hitting her head on the sunroof during the suicide attack? So what about the bullet wounds?

As I mentioned in my last blog, it is indeed true that post mortem was not done and that the body was buried in a big haste. Well I can understand the Muslim tradition of burying the body at the earliest, but in this case exception had to be done, at least by delaying the burial for few hours.

The comment from the coroner's office is that no one asked for postmortem to be done and so on!!! What an explanation!!! Well now things are getting all the more suspicious.

Let's wait and see if the mystery will be unraveled or if it will always remain a mystery.

Daughter of Pakistan: Benazir Bhutto

Charismatic, striking and politically sly, Benazir Bhutto who was reared amid the privileges of Pakistan's aristocracy and the ordeals of its turbulent politics was assassinated on Thursday while attending an election rally. It is indeed a sad news and a cruel end to democratic Islamic world's first woman prime minister.

I was surprised to know that she attended both Harvard and Oxford and also the fact that she held many prestigious positions at oxford when she was a student there. She is remembered as "fiery and fun" by her friends there and they all say that her father's death changed her a lot.

Her end was very tragic and has caused chaos and riots in Pakistan. But a thing i don't understand is, when such a prominent figure was assassinated, how could they bury the body without doing a postmortem? Why create more confusion and chaos to the already tense situation? Also why so many contradictory statements like: "The Interior Ministry said Bhutto had not been shot, nor hit by shrapnel, but had been killed when the force of the explosion smashed her head against a lever on the sun-roof. Security officials had earlier said she was shot in the head and neck." So what exactly is the cause of her death and who did it?

Really confusing right? Well even though she criticised India in her her last statements at the last rally she attended just moments before her death, I still feel that its a huge tragedy and loss to the Bhutto family and Pakistan. She was the projected image of democracy in Pakistan and her family has met with such a tragic end. She was buried alongside her father, former Prime Minister Zulfikar Ali Bhutto, who was hanged in 1979 after being deposed by a military coup. Her two brothers, Murtaza and Shahnawaz, who both died in unexplained circumstances, are also buried in the mausoleum she herself had ordered to be built.

My condolences to her family and at the loss of such a well known lady.

Narendra Modi back in power

Narendar Modi is back in power in Gujarat!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

humm would love to give longggg comments, but biting my tongue coz i mite blabber a lot..

only one comment.........TYPICALLY INDIA!!!!!

Taslima Nasreen literaly Chased all over India!!!

What a shame for India...Its unbelievable to know that this good author was practically chased and thrown out of many states and attacked by idiots. Well she wrote the truth and many people in the name of religion couldnt stand it. The worst part is that India is said to be growing in all areas and religion and its issues slowly starting to diminish , or it looked like it was...But all has been proved wrong!
The poor lady was not accepted in most states, and was not even given a hotel room to stay in. Such an ordeal she went through...And to know that Bengal which has the communist party ruling (who brag of not having religion and such issues) couldnt offer her a shelter until recently.
And ya the religious extremists have managed to make her withdraw many lines from her book. She now wants a peaceful life...

Wat can we say about such issues??Its really a shame that India doesnt seem to be growing in that area of religion.