Sometimes: Music to the Rescue

Sometimes I listen to the music on full blast just to suppress an ocean of “noise” raging inside. Music does temporarily rescue me till the “next” time.

I Think: Why Are There Indexes?

Have you ever wondered why are there indexes and glossaries; tags and bookmarks; references and pointers? I think they are there so that we can go back to the good (marked) stuff again and again. These “markers” are little helpers that show us the way when we forget the path.

Flowers On Black

I have always loved flowers in all shapes, sizes and colours. I have always loved taking pictures of flowers. Looking at flower makes me just so very happy. Now i am crazy about another thing related to flowers, that is, creating images with lone flowers on black background. Like this Pansy below:

And the Calandula:

Love this single daisy on black:

And love the pair too:

I did a rose this way as well:

Now i am after several other flowers which want to "do" on black background. I have even started taking two types of pictures of flowers. One as a full composition as a scene. The other as close-ups for this black background project.

I am totally in love with this project of mine and hope you like it too. Don't forget to leave feedback in the Comments section. Have a nice day!

Seven Ways to Improve Your Writing Skills

I used to write stuff on paper long before the blog era. When the blog came I started writing online. I wrote everything that came to my mind (even rubbish). I still like writing but since I now have a small audience that reads my blog (and I want the numbers to increase), I really want to write quality content. I know I would never be able to churn up master literary pieces (ever) but I still want to keep improving the content. Here is a list of things that I do (or at least try to do) to improve my writing which i suggest to you too:

1. Keep writing. If you don’t write you wouldn’t know if you improved or not.

2. Keep reading. Reading content written by other people can remarkably improve your own writing.

3. Increase your vocabulary. It is important so that you can express your thoughts and ideas in a variety of ways. Reading helps.

4. Comment intelligently. This is the time where the web encourages interactivity. People are provided opportunities to interact with each other in different ways. One such way is “commenting” on other people’s stuff. This stuff may range from published writing, uploaded pictures, list of achievements; and the list can go on. When making any comment, try to make sure it makes sense and shows your real emotion (It does not mean for you to start harshly criticizing somebody’s work if you don’t like it).

5. Observe your surroundings. Keeping a vigilant eye on happenings around you will provide you with a chance to write about them later. The more detail you observe the better.

6. Do new stuff. When you do new things or go to new places, you get more exposure of the world. This exposure makes a base for new topics and experiences to write about and to share.

7. Just write! Write on every thing you see or think or feel. No topic, event, thought or feeling is worth discarding; rather it is worth a lot. You just need to, as somebody said, see the extraordinary in the ordinary.

Two Flower Shows in a Day

Today was a busy day for me and that too outside the house. But i was happy since what kept me busy was a wonderful thing for me. Today was "Flower Show Day" for me. Incidentally, two flower shows were being held in the twin cities at the same time. One was being held at Rose and Jasmine Garden, Islamabad. The other one was being held at the Arid Agriculture University, Rawalpindi. The flower shows were complimented by "Bird Shows" at well at the same venues.

I left home in the morning and went to Islamabad for my first flower and bird show. The weather was lovely and i had a splendid couple of hours. I roamed around the whole arena, looking intently at each and every flower, and took pictures of all sights that pleased my eye. I visited cages of all the birds at display in the bird show. Loved the "Shikra" and the ducklings. There were so many different types of hens on display too. They all were really cute. Twice there was a little shower which made many people run for cover and pushed me to protect my camera. My spirits were not dampened at all. I kept busy with roaming, looking, admiring, and clicking. After a few hours i got a bit bored (since i was on the adventure alone) and headed home.

I took Club Road to head to Pindi as always. When i came near Faizabad; the point where i could turn left to go to Islamabad Expressway or go straight on the Murree Road; I realized there was another flower show going on. So i dismissed the decision to go to the Expressway (my regular route to home) and kept going straight.

When i reached Arid Agriculture University, i turned to go in. I was signaled by the guard to park outside the walls of the uni which i did. Thank God i found parking very easily. After parking my car and locking all doors i headed to the ground clad with flowers and the tent full of different species of birds. The bird show in Pindi was a bit more organised since cages of all birds were tagged with their names (and names/contacts of the breeders at times too). I loved ALL species of hens there. The shaggy hairstyle ones as well as the giant sumo wrestler like ones. There was this breed of pigeons which had curly feathers. It looked very elegant and awesome. I tried taking pictures of the birds (as i had tried at the bird show in Islamabad), but could not succeed. There were no holes big enough in the cages that could let me take a clear shot of the birds, without the cage itself getting in the way. After getting amused by the birds i headed towards the flowers. Before i could reach them, something else caught my attention. There was a stall where some flowers were on display. The distinctive thing about those flowers was that they were all made out of turnips. Gosh! they looked so real. Hats off to the skilled hands who made them. Still admiring the turnip flowers i moved towards the main arena where the flowers were on display (the real ones; not the turnip ones). Seeing so many flowers in one place AGAIN on the same day was awesome. I once again paid individual attention to all flowers and snapped pictures as well. It was fun. But this time around the weather was not as blissful as before. The sun had come out of the clouds and was shining with full force; i.e. it was hot. That didn't de-motivate me either. I took a complete round of the place and only when i was certain that i had seen all the flowers i left the place.

I reached home hot, hungry and exhausted. But i was happy as i had seen so many birds and so many flowers in the same day. I love all living creatures (yes even insects in case you were wondering) so it was a double treat for me to be able to attend the two flower (and bird) shows in the same day. I would like to go again. Let's see if i can make it or not. Wish me luck! ;-)