New Blog

On a whim I have created another blog with Blogspot. It’s called Virtual Menagerie.

Check it out.

What is Paid-to-Click?

Further to the previous post, an obvious question that comes up is what is PTC?

There are many websites where you can earn money just for viewing advertisements placed by other site members who paid to put these ads there or from other advertisers. The site has a timer and all you do is click on the ad, view it until the timer gets to zero and go to the next site. They are called paid to click sites or PTC’s for short. These sites also will pay you for each and every click made by other members who you have referred to the paid to click program.

Generally, each ad you click can give you $0.01 to $0.1. The daily amount that you earn just clicking by yourself can increase by referring the sites to other users. These sites also give you the option of buying referrals.

There are a lot of sites out there which are scams. But there are some genuine ones that do pay (and I have seen friends getting paid). Here are a few that are really good ones. I have listed only the ones which I think will be useful because these sites show 10-15 ads per day. So the earning potential for these sites are higher than others.

Bux.to

Bux3

PaidClicks

XClix

Uronlinebux

Foxcash

Buxear

Croclix

Advercash

I am going to keep on updating this list for anyone who is interested in making some extra money.

Money Matters

I am 25, married and virtually working for peanuts. But then, that’s the story about a lot of people around us, whatever country we are from. It always feels like a conspiracy against us.

For a long time, I have been trying to find out ways to make some extra moolah knowing that to reach the salary that can buy me of all the other things, a house, will take me another 10 years of slogging like a donkey.

So I searched around the Internet for something that can increase the depressing figure that I see in my account. I came across many sites which said something about PTCs. Intrigued, I checked out what PTCs is all about.

It turns out that PTC sites are something which allow people to sign up for free and give out on average 10-15 ads per day. On clicking these ads and waiting from anywhere between 15 seconds to a minute, members get paid $0.01 or $0.1 depending on what the sites have to offer.

I have started clicking on these ads in my idle time. I haven’t been paid from any of the sites as yet, but I am not losing anything by trying.

I am going to write about my experiences and reviews of different sites (there are hundreds to choose from and a lot of them are scams). I am also going to try and help anyone who is interested in making some money online.

Anyways, that’s all (for now at least). Keep checking back if you are interested.

Manchester United – WE ARE THE CHAMPIONS

In what was one of the most exciting, breath-taking, awe-inspiring matches this season, Manchester United won the Champions League 6-5, at the Luzhniki in Moscow. The match, which was not less that poetry on field, turned Manchester United from just a team into a legend.

The heavens opened over this epic all-English final last night, weeping tears of joy for Manchester United and tears of sympathy for John Terry. What a beautiful way for United to mark the 50th anniversary of Munich, but what a brutal way for such an honest pro as Terry to be treated by the sporting gods, his foot slipping on the uncertain surface as he addressed what would have been the winning penalty in a merciless shoot-out. Football, bloody hell.

United’s sense of adventure, their commitment to youth, the unbelievable running of Carlos Tevez and Owen Hargreaves, the work ethic of Wayne Rooney and Wes Brown, and the magic of Cristiano Ronaldo all deserved the reward of being crowned kings of Europe.

Even when Ronaldo missed during the shoot-out, the Portuguese wizard had done enough to remind the world of his virtuoso talent on the grandest stage. His first-half header was a gem, matched only by the excellence of Lampard’s riposte just before the break.

When Old Trafford chants “stand up for the champions”, the words will ring with a double resonance: champions of England and champions of Europe. For Ferguson, the trophy collected last night gleamed with particular significance, taking him into a select band of managers to have masterminded two European Cup triumphs like Helenio Herrera, Brian Clough and Ottmar Hitzfeld.

Glory Glory, Manchester United!!

Shantaram Discourses

I love reading books. Books are like aphrodisiac for a writer, essential for the fulfillment of the desire for knowledge or just plain fun. I can spend hours reading a book. If I go to a bookstore, I am like a small kid left to run around the biggest toy store on the planet!!

My current muse is Shantaram by Gregory David Roberts. I would say, this simply one of the best books that I have read and I have read a humble number of them.

I will be posting some really philosophical discussions between the protagonist and the people he works, interacts or lives with. These discussions/conversations are intensely thought-provoking and eye-opening. I have highlighted most of these philosophies so that I can use them at a later stage in life to hold my own in a conversation or basically just impress people 🙂 .

Here’s what the book is all about. Please note that what is written below is copied word for word from the back cover of the book (I was just feeling too bored to think 🙂 )

In the early 80s, Gregory David Roberts, an armed robber and heroin addict, escaped from an Australian prison to India, where he lived in a Bombay slum. There, he established a free health clinic and also joined the mafia, working as a money launderer, forger and street soldier. He found time to learn Hindi and Marathi fall in love. And spend time being worked over in an Indian jail. Then, in case anyone thought he was slaking, he acted in Bollywood and fought with the Mujahedeen in Afghanistan… Amazingly, Roberts wrote Shantaram three times after prison guards trashed the first two versions. It’s a profound tribute to his willpower…

And some of the main characters in this book who say something greatly inspiring or help Gregory to understand life, love, suffering and all such abstract subjects…

Gregory / Linbaba / Shantaram – Author, Armed robber, Mafia Dealer, Slum Doctor and more…..

Karla – Swiss woman living in Bombay, Shantaram’s love.

Abdul Khader Khan – Mafia Don

Majid Khan – Council member of Khader’s Council.

Abdul Ghani – Council member of Khader’s Council.

Abdullah Taheri – Khader Khan’s associate.

Khaled Ansari – Council member of Khader’s Council.

I will be posting some of the things said by these people in the book, which made me pause and think about certain aspects of life which I still ponder over because I don’t understand them.

And reading the book I have come to realize that while we are dreaming the American dream, we are conveniently ignoring the things which make India…. India… There is something about India which makes it different…..

So keep reading……..

Dream On!!

I was hanging out with some friends swapping songs over our phones when I heard this song on a friend’s cell phone. It’s Dream On by Aerosmith. I liked it so much that I got it immediately on my phone and have been listening to it ever since then.

The song is so hauntingly beautiful that I listen to it at least a couple of times a day. I identify with this song a lot. It reminds me about the fights that I fought in my life, literal and metamorphic. It reminds me that in spite of losing some of these fights, I have not given up on dreaming. Dreaming about what I want my life to be. Dreaming about what life I want for my family. Dreaming about I want to be.

If you are ever down, listen to this song. I can promise you that you will have a renewed vigor when you are stressed. This will sound very corny, but it does work.

If you want to download this song, here’s the link…..

http://www.wikiupload.com/download_page.php?id=33036

And if you want the lyrics, here it is….

Every time when I look in the mirror
All these lines on my face getting clearer
The past is gone
it went by, like dusk to dawn
Isn’t that the way
Everybody’s got the dues in life to pay

I know nobody knows
where it comes and where it goes
I know it’s everybody sin
You got to lose to know how to win

Half my life
is books written pages
live and love from fools
and from sages
You know it’s true, OH
All these things come back to you

Sing with me, sing for the years
Sing for the laughter, sing for the tears
Sing with me, just for today
Maybe tomorrow, the good lord will take you away

Yeah, sing with me, sing for the year
sing for the laughter, sing for the tear
sing with me, just for today
Maybe tomorrow, the good Lord will take you away

Dream On Dream On Dream On
Dream until your dreams come true
Dream On Dream On Dream On
Dream until your dreams come true
Dream On Dream On Dream On Dream On Dream On Dream On Dream On

Sing with me, sing for the year
sing for the laughter, sing for the tear
sing with me, just for today
Maybe tomorrow, the good Lord will take you away
Sing with me, sing for the year
sing for the laughter, sing for the tear
Sing with me, just for today
Maybe tomorrow, the good Lord will take you away.

Take the burden off!!!

I clicked this picture when I was in Mumbai at a mall. I think whoever thought of this concept is really creative.

Let me explain. If you look at the image, the box on the boys head is connected to another box through a pulley system. The box with the lettering on it asks you for some charity. Once you put the money in the box weighs down and lifts the other box (the one on top of the boy’s head) up. Its like you are donating to take the box off a small child’s head, helping fight child labor.

Take a closer look at the image…..

Hairdo or Just Undo????

This is the new hairdo of my colleague Mandar. Pretty Interesting actually….. He looks like a convict (so the mugshots 🙂 ).

Also, almost all IDs (thats what we are, Instructional Designers) and most of the journalists look like this. WEIRD!!!! He also looks like one happy convict which is again… WEIRD.

But looking at these u just feel like hitting Ctrl+ Z.

Here are the pics….

And talking about Ctrl + Z, I wish there was an undo button for life. I would be clicking away for 10 years just to undo what I have done to my life……

A Cracking Discovery

Today, I, quite literally, made a cracking discovery. I came to office and thanks to a long time bad habit of not relieving myself when before I leave home, I went straight to the little boys’ room (the men’s washroom for the ones who have grown up 🙂 ).

I groomed myself to be presentable since I live like a pig at home, and was just turning to the pot when I heard a cracking sound. I looked around fearing that the old hovel of a place which we call an office was going to come down on top of my head.

But there was no sign of the roof falling in or the walls cracking up. Instead I saw that I was standing on a piece of tile that had cracked under my feet. I was confused. Why was it that it was only the only piece of tile broken?

A lot of pondering led me to arrive at the obvious (and one that I already knew but was ashamed to admit to) conclusion that it had simply broken because of my weight!!!

DAMN!! Do I need to lose weight or what?

I have decided that I am going a strict wada pav and chai diet (just kidding 🙂 ). On a more serious note, I have to lose weight and there is no question about it. But things like these are easier said than done when it concerns a lazy ass like me. Anyways, I have no other alternative. If I continue breaking tiles, I bloody well won’t have any more money to eat and put on more weight let alone pay for the broken tiles all over the office.

On second thoughts I am really very hungry. I think I will think about my necessary diet over a nice cheese burger!!

CHOW!! I mean CIAO!!

The Silver Lining

How many times have you looked up at the sky and have really noticed something beautiful?

How many times have you looked around and thought that the world is not really that bad and that Mother Earth is still beautiful as she was before mankind’s hideous makeup ruined her beautiful face?

How many times have you looked at sunsets or sunrises because they are the most breathtaking sites and not because you were at a hill station and looking at a sunrise or a sunset is part of the tourist experience?

How many of you really believe that clouds do have a silver lining.

This is a picture I clicked from my office window when the skies were overcast a few days ago. And it set me thinking that in a race – face down, shoulders hunched – to fulfill needs that I created (unnecessarily) in the first place, I forgot to look up. Look up to the skies that I used to gaze at for ages as a kid. The stars, the birds…everything. I have forgotten searching for shapes and faces in the clouds and of flying through them. Flying-through-the-clouds stunts do happen in the movies but even those are for saving your own ass with a bad guy on your tail!!

We have also forgotten looking up at the skies and wondering about whoever is up there looking down at us and smiling.

But still as they say

Every cloud has a silver lining