The Careerist: The Online Advantage – Marie Claire India July’11

I’ve written an article for this month’s (July 2011) issue of Marie Claire India – ‘The Careerist’ section. The story, ‘The Online Advantage‘ looks at how a professional can use the online social networks to improve their prospects, present themselves better, leverage the value of networking and in general, carve a place for themselves in the new workplace – the internet.

Harness the power of social networking to get ahead in your career. The cost is minimal, the impact maximal.

Is The Indian Man A Fashion Failure? – Feature In M Magazine, Jan 2011

The year begins on a good note for the writer in me. M Magazine has a special feature called ‘What Women Want‘. The feature covers various questions surrounding the Indian man of today.

'What Women Want' - feature in January 2011 issue of M.

Five women have each contributed an article and one of those women is me! My piece is titled ‘Is The Indian Man A Fashion Failure?‘

"Is The Indian Man A Fashion Failure?" - M Magazine, January 2011

 

The piece was originally slated to run a few months ago but got rescheduled. Now I think it’s a great new year gift for me to start 2011, seeing my words in print. The issue has just hit the stands. Now, don’t make me beg….go out, buy it, read it already!

‘The Chef’s @’: Article In Oct 2010 JetLite Flight Magazine

October opens with promise, delectable aromas and lots of windows open on my computer. What am I on?

'The Chef's @' by Ramya Pandyan for Jet Airways Flight Magazine Oct 2010

My article titled ‘The Chef’s @’ appears in JetLite’s’ in-flight magazine through this month. It is a go-to primer for the culinary-challenged (like me) who nevertheless have appetites and luckily for them, an internet connection. If the kitchen scares you, don’t worry. The Internet is benevolent and bountiful and will teach you how to cater to this most basic of needs, in an easy, efficient and tasty manner.

If you’re flying this month, please do read the story and send me your thoughts. Bon voyage and bon appetit!

‘The Chef’s @’ by Ramya Pandyan

The kitchen has never been my favorite room in the house. But the hunger pangs come knocking every few hours, reminding me of the mealtime that looms up ahead. For most urban dwellers, the daily preparation of food can be a real problem. At the end of an demanding day full of gargantuan commitments of work, bills, children and household management, who has the time or energy to devote to several hours of preparing something, that will be gone in a few minutes? Like several other chores, this too could be sourced out to external help but finding a person whose skills (let alone temperament and salary demands) match one’s needs could be problematic. You are not a super chef but you don’t always want to order in or reheat packaged food or live off cup noodles. So what do you do? I decided to check online. Google was the solution to many of my needs so I figured, why not ask about the most basic one?

"Web" Column For Marie Claire India Oct’09: E-Social Interactions

After a story about Twitter for Marie Claire India in Sept’09, I have a piece on social interaction and being a safe netizen in the Oct’09 issue, which is out on the stands now. I’d love to hear your comments and also your thoughts, if any, on other internet-related topics you’d like to read about.

(Click to see full image)

Twitter Story For Marie Claire India Sept’ 09

I wrote an article about Twitter which was published in the September 2009 issue of Marie Claire, which has just come out on the stands right now. If you’re already an avid Tweeter, it won’t say anything that you don’t know already. If you’re a techie, you’ll probably turn your nose up at what I’ve written. But if you’ve just been hearing about the Twitterumours everywhere and are wondering why it’s so hot, you might find a few answers. Because this is a layperson’s understanding of the Twitterage, an account of personal experience, which is really how I believe a tool should be explained and understood.

I’m happy with the way it looks. And hey! I even got my photo in the contributors page. Thank you so much Aekta for the opportunity (and Sumit for the photograph)!

And again, considering that the book I’m writing is about the ways that ordinary people (the mango junta as Saif would have us know) experience the internet….writing this piece was almost like a test run. I hope you enjoy it!

Featured In Mail Today, South Delhi Plus: Confessions Of A Netaholic

Mail Today/ South Delhi Plus (I saw the online version on Mail Today but a friend told me he saw it in South Delhi Plus) did a story on Internet addiction yesterday. I’ve been quoted in the main piece and there’s a separate mini-piece with my views.

(Click to see full pages)

(Photograph courtesy Sumit Jagdale)

My muscle aches some months ago, leading to false alarms of arthritis and spondilitis, came as a wake-up call about my posture, lack of exercise and most importantly, my unhealthy computer use. Ten years ago, I quit television and found it opened up a lot of time for me. Now all this while later, I find I’ve just progressed to another kind of screen. Odd it is when I think my favorite tee-shirt shows the evolution of man with the last figure crouched low over a computer screen and a caption that reads,

Something somewhere went terribly wrong!

Over and above the physical repercussions of excessive computer usage, I’m more concerned (and intrigued) with what it is doing to our minds. The Internet isn’t the idiot box but perhaps its effects are deeper. It has changed the way we do everything, from work, to managing our daily chores, to keeping in touch, to amusement, keeping informed, to building and sustaining relationships.

The last is particularly interesting to me. It is ironical that this article should have come at this time because this is the theme that’s big on my mind these days. My entry for NovelRace has to do with modern-day relationships, in the wake of technology and its effects on the social fabric, behaviour patterns and our expectations of each other. I didn’t want to talk about it, this early but perhaps I should, considering that the Internet is a social medium and writing about it should automatically include other people. So yes, it’s quite possible that I’m thinking of you when I’m creating my characters and making things happen to them.

I’m going to end by saying perhaps it wasn’t such a bad thing, being a netoholic after all. Call it research for the book.