"Musings of an Octopus Vulgaris." Winning Entry for Week July 10-16, 2010

[Paul the Octopus seen here predicting Germany Vs Spain match. Image: Kennysia.com (CC)]

I. Winning Entry

Out of a total of 39 blog posts updated and read last week (it was actually a few more, but we didn't consider the guest posts,) our very first winning entry for the honor of, Best Blog Post in Delhi's Blogosphere, for the week of July 10, Saturday - July 16, Friday is:

"Musings of an Octopus Vulgaris" by Purba Ray, dated July 10, 2010. Blogs at A-Musings. (http://purba-ray.blogspot.com)

About the Post: Purba, in a very creative and imaginative way, takes the perspective of Paul the Octopus -- probably the real winner to come out of this FIFA World Cup when it comes to popularity -- and speaks to us in Paul's voice, talking about his life. Starting from his humble beginnings as seafood to the new life as the Great Oracle Paul, with all the trappings of a lifestyle of the rich and famous that come along with it. It is a hilarious read.

The most memorable line has to be: "I will soon be needing a tax consultant, a PR team, a legal eagle to help me build my empire. I already know what I will call it – The Buoyant Clairvoyant Corporation.” [Link]

[Purba Ray.]

About the Blogger: Purba Ray is a resident of Gurgaon living a happily married life with her husband and daughter. Ethnically a Bengali, but born and raised in Delhi.

Till about the end of 2009, she used to teach senior classes for Web Technology and Multimedia at some reputed school in Delhi.

However, when asked on how she got into blogging, she mentions in an interview with Weblog!, that she quit her job last year, for reasons not mentioned, and then later wrote about her new found freedom and shared it with her friends on Facebook. One of these friends happened to be a well established blogger, Desh Kapoor, who asked her to write for his online forum Drishtikone.com. And that's how she got introduced to the blogging world.

Four months ago she started her own blog titled A-Musing, and has been blogging fairly regularly ever since.

Purba Ray is definitely among the best bloggers of Delhi we've come across.

Close Runner-up(s)

There were a couple of contending blog posts for the top pick. We list them below.

1. "How I Make Money With Shoutmeloud" by Harsh Aggarwal, dated July 12, 2010. Blogs at ShoutMeLoud (http://www.shoutmeloud.com/)

2. "Wish!" by Scribbling Girl, dated July 10, 2010. Blogs at My Personal Journal. (http://creativelyscribbling.blogspot.com/)

II.  The State of Delhi's Blogosphere

In our first weekly review of Delhi's blogosphere, we've come to realize that in our search for the best blog post, we are also in a position to get a read on the pulse of Delhi's blogosphere. So we thought, why not share this insight with our readers and make this an additional feature to our weekly service.

We will try to focus on issues which we think needs to be shared and spread around. Sort of a public service announcement.

To give you an example, this week we would like to draw your attention to a crime some bloggers face when it comes to intellectual property.

There have been many incidents where businesses for-profit have blatantly stolen a blogger's piece of writing or picture and passed it off as their own work. The most famous incident in Delhi's blogosphere that we know of is the case of an article published in  a SpiceJet in-flight magazine ripping off a blog post first published on Eating Out in Delhi blog. You can read more about it on EOiD's blog here: "SpiceJet’s Magazine: A Study in Plagiarism"

However, the incident we want to draw your attention is to what happened last week to a blogger by the name of Pavaani Bishnoi, who blogs at Pavaani.in.

According to Pavaani, a picture on her Flickr account was taken and used on a commercial website called SnapDeal.com without her permission or attribution to her.

Although, when she wrote to them citing copyright infringement, SnapDeal replaced the picture from their site, but never replied to her email acknowledging their mistake; assuming it was by mistake.

You can know more about this incident in Pavaani's own words, on her blog here: "SnapSteal." 

Until Next Week

I hope DSLTO's first edition has been of some value to our readers and we hope you'll revisit us next week, just like today, on Monday, July 26 at 8:00 am, for another edition of Delhi Speaks Like This Only, announcing another weekly winning entry for the title of Best Blog Post in Delhi.

Till then, take care and happy blogging.

Addendum @ July 19, 7:00 pm:

There are two new blog additions to our blogroll this week, which we forgot to mention earlier. We list them below:

1. desiderata. (http://desiderata-mumbai.blogspot.com/) (Now a Delhi-based blog.)
2. The Woodchuck Chucks. (http://issuedinpublicinterest.blogspot.com/)
  

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