A couple of days back, as I was writing something for Web Technologies Inc., one of our clients, I was also seeing a movie, an old-time Hindi movie which I had seen earlier in my college days. That was years back and memories were vague.

‘Bawarchi’- that’s the name of the movie; the late Hrishikesh Mukherjee, the man who made many memorable films, is the director. Rajesh Khanna plays the lead role. The storyline is simple. A big household with many members, but each one of them is shut up in a world of his or her own. There is no love between them and they just lead their own, empty lives. Into this house comes a new ‘bawarchi’, a cook named Raghu. Things change. The cook, who seems a ‘jack of all trades’, makes love enter their lives. They get closer to one another and start living their lives more meaningfully. The cook teaches them some simple and basic lessons of living happily and meaningfully and finally, as we’d expect, moves on…He says that he has many more houses to visit and many more families to unite…

A simple story it may seem; but ‘Bawarchi’ is one of those films that make you feel better. It’s one of those films that make you think positive. It makes you want to enrich your life and the lives of others…

Thanks Hrishida….I felt elated re-visiting the film that you made four decades ago, in 1972. Thanks a lot…

I do write blogs after blogs and articles after articles for our company’s many clients- Appco Group, Enigma Marketing etc. Agreed that most of those articles, which are plain business articles, don’t inspire or excite me or anyone, except perhaps the client (!)… But those do serve a purpose, and since the world is not just about creativity and writing, I have no regrets writing all that…It’s part of my job, part of what I do to keep myself going on in this material world, where I need food to eat, a house to live, fuel to run my car and clothes to wear…But once in a while, either when I fancy I am smitten by the creative bug or when I fail to catch even a wink of sleep (on some rare occasions that does happen), I write things that excite me, energise me and make me feel contented. I do that for our office blogs too, as and when the occasion arises.

I am reminded of an article that left me relieved and charged at a time when I was down, following the demise of a friend. That was a shock, not because he was a great friend. He was just a friend, but he used to spend the evenings with me on most days. We both were staying alone in the big bad city that provides no distractions whatsoever and he always had issues in his personal life that he wanted to share with me. So the evenings were mostly spent talking. Then, when one day I learn that he has ended his life, I am shocked. It takes some time to get over the shock…

In the meantime, some two or three days later, I am asked to write, by a friend and colleague, to write a post in memory of a writer on her first death anniversary. I begin, rather exhaustedly, having been down for the past 2-3 days. Then as I go on, it seems to catch fire…I feel like I am in some trance and words just come one after the other….It’s a totally personal piece on the writer. I write about what I felt about the writer and her works, I wrote about what I felt when I heard her speak after receiving a prestigious award and I wrote it all from my own perspective…

By the time I had finished writing the post, I was feeling much better. In fact I was feeling refreshed, energised and I was able to overcome the shock too to an extent…

Yeah, words do have the power to change people, lives and the world itself. Words are powerful; the energy that they effervesce can work wonders…

Last weekend Shyama visited Jaipur, the Pink City of India, to attend the world famous Jaipur Literature Festival. Then, on Monday, as I passed her an article I had written for Redwoods Advance for editing, she started sharing her experiences at Jaipur on Skype…

Here are some excerpts:
me: how was the lit fest?
shyama: enjoyed it feel enriched
shyama: bliss
shyama.: will paste tweet and fb status I made
me: okok
shyama.: Was at the Jaipur Lit fest this weekend was thrilled to see Gulzar, Ben Okri (got his book signed), Arvind Mehrotra recite Kabir, Prasoon Joshi, Remnick, Alex Pinker, Dalrymple and Oprah! ))
shyama.:  Also watched – “Exiled writers” talk with Kamin Mohammadi, Thant Myint-U, Fatima Bhutto, Hanan Al Shaykh moderated by W Dalrymple
shyama.: in a shop anokhi in jaipur I was standing next to vidhu vinod chopra and anupama chopra while paying bill
me: aha
shyama.: he was trying out a robe and asking his daughter if he looked like bhutan king
me: haha
shyama.: hehe
shyama.: prasoon joshi recited some great shayri punctuated by “wah wah” from gulzar….then gulzar recited
me: ok
shyama.: I was sad cld not understand hindi urdu more
shyama.: but wonderful
me: ok
shyama.: saw chetan bhagat
shyama.: ila arun
shyama.: girish krnad
me: wow
me: karnad wow
shyama.: karnad can u blieve was standing outside the Mughal tent next to speakers and listneing to the talk inside like aam aadmi
shyama.: did not hear him speak
me: wont say a wow for Chetan Bhagat
me: but for karnad, yes
shyama.: yeye
me: he is the Writer
shyama.: there was tlk on writing menoirs where he was in the panel missed it
me: have almost started re-visiting karnad
me: in the bag that I carry with me always, last week onwards his ‘Three Plays’ collections there
me: hayavadhavana, nagamandala and tuglaq
me: to be frank, I loved teaching karnad
me: and though I didnt read the play, liked the structure when i saw ‘agnivarsha’
me: the film
me: agnivarsha is a film based on karnad’s play ‘The Fire and the Rain’
me: I won’t say i liked the movie, it was not at all cinematic
shyama.: aha
me: it was more ‘dramatic’ than cinematic
me: and there is a film by him that i saw- ‘Cheluvi’, liked that too
me: and utsav, have u seen it?
shyama.: yes
shyama.: loved it
shyama.: btw also saw sanjana kapoor
shyama.: and son
shyama.: shashi ki beti
me: she is one among the kapoor clan who’s sensible
shyama.: prithvi theatres waali
shyama.: ye ye
me: i know
me: she had acted in a film or two too
me: jaane bhi do yaaron
shyama.: i screamed there’s sanjana kapoor
shyama.: and she turned and looked
me: the irony of it all is that literature and art are getting distanced from our lives

Then began a brief discussion on literature and trends today, following which we both resumed out work. The fact, however, was that Shyama was energised with the Literature Festival and returned to Delhi with books that she’d read and which would inspire her to buy and read more books.

I began the day writing an article for Appco Group Thailand, one of our clients. That was at the start of the day, when I was brimming with energy, derived from last night’s sleep and my delicious breakfast.

The day went by and I kept writing articles after articles, posting them one after the other on blogs and sites. Links came on, from SEOs in our team and I took care I linked to different clients. That’s how it works. By noon, I was half-tired. A heavy lunch made me feel drowsy, but sleep I can’t as I have much to write and targets to meet. (Miles to go before I sleep…).

Now, as office time is almost over, here I am, fumbling with words to pen my last article. Here I am, a writer sans energy. How I wish, I could shut up my computer, get a nap and then go off for a movie or to meet friends or just to wander about and refresh myself…

And then, the weekend, when I can do things at leisure, get my energy revived for the next week at work…

Happy Weekend to all….

Well, this is no secret. Energetic people, or to be precise, energetic writers (Should I say like me?) are quick at propounding theories. Well, I have done one (I am not the kind who’d admit I had done that out of sheer desperation to write an article on direct marketing, no way!). This I committed while I was writing an article for one of our clients, Sirius Star Marketing I presume.

So, what was the theory? I bet you wouldn’t have heard of it before. I hadn’t, until the very moment I was bringing it forth. Well, the theory in question here is ‘the basic instinct theory of marketing’. Hey, do I see eminent marketers frown their brows thinking hard if they had ever heard of such a theory. Not to bother; there is no such theory.

So, what does ‘my’ basic instinct theory say? The very basic statement that this ‘theory’ makes is that buying and selling, in short marketing, is one of the basic instincts of man. God, doesn’t that sound true?! That’s me, energetic writer!! (Did I hear one of my friends boo loudly; I don’t care, energetic that I am). The ‘theory’, which I have discussed in a couple of articles till date, speaks about marketing as a basic instinct and then goes in for an explanation. ‘Trash!’- analysts would comment; ‘Nonsense!’- real good writers would lament. But I had no other go. Desperation is blind; and hence pardonable is the offense that’s the result of desperation.

Now comes the final question, from the side of the readers. ‘Are we to expect more of such ‘theories’?’- their tone, made emphatic with unanimous voice, is sort of menacing. Seems like they are saying- “Just come up with one more such theory and you will see for yourself what’s going to happen”.

Hey cool! Tolerance is one of the rarest of virtues; practice it buddies. You need it; or rather I need you to have it…

So, what’s your New Year Resolution? I can see my colleague Sreekumar smiling at me just as he is writing some Enza Marketing Review article. I can hear his smile wax eloquent. “You and your Resolutions! We know it all. You make Resolutions on every December 31st and make it a habit to forget it the moment you jump out of your bed on Jan 1st”- his smile means so much and much more, I know.

Well, I may not have a resolution. But you guys are not like me, I presume. So whatever it be, I would just wish you a New Year full of ‘energy’. (Hey guys, I can’t help using the word ‘energy’ as this site is dedicated to that wonderful word! But trust me; I am going to say many interesting things in my forthcoming posts.)

So let 2012 be one of the best years you have had in your life. Let joys outweigh sorrows this year and let friends be there for you more than enemies. Let your near and dear ones cherish your love and presence and let things be as you want them to be. Let every sunrise this year cheer you up and let every night’s sleep refresh you so that you get to make the most of each day this year.

Too much of wishing will bore you guys I know. So let me stop here. Now it’s your turn to wish me the same. Well, lemme presume you’ve done it. Here I take leave, determined to hit back with an ‘energy-filled’ post the next time.

Jayan, who works with me and who writes a lot of Reputation Management stuff about companies like Enigma Marketing, Appco etc, sent me this link. It was about how a woman and her son were saved from a hostage situation.

It happened in Utah, US. The woman and her 17-month-old son, who were held hostage for five days by a guy, were saved because of her Facebook status update. The woman, who remains unnamed, hid in a closet with a laptop and posted a message in Facebook saying that she and her son would be ‘dead by morning’ is no one came to help them. A friend read this update, informed the Police and the woman and her son were saved.

The person who held them hostage, a 33 year old guy, was jailed and investigations have begun, on charges of aggravated kidnapping, child abuse, aggravated assault, forcible sodomy, domestic violence, animal cruelty etc. The guy took the woman’s cellphone and another phone, treated her son roughly and refused to let her feed the family dog.

I can see you are wondering about the change of tone in my writing. This is something serious and hence I can’t bring myself to write it out in the same style as my earlier posts.
But doesn’t this prove that the social media has its own ‘energy level’? Well, I think I too got to explore the medium and make the most of it…

Well, today let’s talk of energy of a different kind- energy that a website may need to go up the search engine ladder. Hey, do I see Web Listings Inc. people smiling that all-knowing smile?! Well, they know what I am talking about and they got the right to smile that smile…

So, how to get your website that iota of energy that could push it on and on and on and on… Simple! Just optimize it. “Well, how do we do that?”- I can hear that question of yours. Again simple. Learn how to do it or just hire someone to do it for you. It’s in fact easy to learn; search engine algorithm is not tough a thing to understand. You just need to have that analytical bend of mind and the habit of thinking logically. Added to this, if you have a penchant for understanding simple technical matters, it would simply work out.

Well, there are lots of people and companies out there who can help you with it. Hey, Web Listings people now smile a broader smile. They are experts, they say. I won’t comment on that.

So optimize a site by making the design great, putting in great content and doing good SEO work. The energy that it thus gathers will pass on to your business, whatever be it. People would simply come to know that your site and you exist on the face of this earth. Don’t you want that to happen? Well, I would want to; why otherwise would I write this post, or rather these posts…?!

Well, go ahead, do what’s needed. I won’t recommend the services of anyone, because then I would have to recommend myself to you… I’d keep mum instead.

‘Content writers can’t be choosers’, they say. So I have no choice, I give a willy-nilly nod and say, “OK, I will do it”. Where do I begin? What should be the theme for this site? I continue to be confused, as usual, and Sreekumar, my neighbour at office who ends every sentence in Skype with three dots and an exclamation mark (…!) reminds me to put a link to Oracle Advertising, his client…

So, now over to the theme. I ask in Skype group chat and Amjath suggests beginning with things pertaining to energy.

So here we go, we discuss everything pertaining to energy (literally everything) on this site. Beginning next post, we’ll start the discussions, in all ways possible. Keep watching this space…