Contributors

Ankit Poddar is not popularly known as anything at all, for he is not very popular. That is quite a disgrace, for the man has been writing on cricket for over 2 years now at All Padded Up. A big fan of Sachin Tendulkar, Ankit Poddar is a short and stout looking guy with out the grace or humility of his idol. An IT engineer, Ankit is now close to completing his MBA in Technology and Marketing and dabbles regularly in jobs related to Online Marketing and Creative Writing. When asked why he chose cricket over technology or marketing as his niche for writing, the man was at a loss for words. Considering that it came from a person who prides himself on being a professional blogger and writer, it can be safely concluded that Ankit Poddar is a disgrace to the profession. Oh, that has been already mentioned.

Anthony Samson popularly known as “Sam” among his friends; was born and brought up in the city of Palaces – Mysore. He currently lives in Bangalore and works for an MNC. He loves travelling, photography and gaming to name a few. He has always had a lifelong dream of becoming a Photographer; but the dream came true only a few months back. He is now hiking and learning the curves of photography with the help of reading and experimenting with the art and nature through lens. Nature, Landscapes and Macro Photography are his forte and passion. He is also found at Sammy's Photoblog.

A management graduate by education, a writer by passion and a publisher by profession, AS believes in living life to fullest! She runs a publishing company, Humming words Publishers. Her main motto behind this is to provide an opportunity to budding writers and poets. A reading buff herself, she loves reading on diverse topics. As an ardent animal lover, she adores dogs very much. Her vision in life is to spread education as much as she could for she feels really blessed to be educated! AS Blogs at The Humming Words.

Chandana Shekar is a freshly baked doctor. She thinks that the best way to describe her is, 'a typical aries'. Friendly, independent, honest, frank, impulsive and hell stubborn.She believes that a broad smile and a warm hug are the best things in the world, second to chicken biryani and pani-puri though!. She started writing when she discovered for herself that her words were turning into poetry. And since the time she started her blog a year ago, she is in love with the blogworld.A chatter-box, loves shopping like any other girl and wants to make life as trendy and elegant as possible. According to her, Love and loved ones are the most important things to be valued in life. She loves trying her hand at all possible things she can and justifies it saying, "There is just one life to live. Love it."

Debosmita is a lawyer, or so she wants all to believe. She does have a professional degree in law and can be found slogging at a law firm in Calcutta, but all that is done in her free time. She actually earns peace and sanity in life by writing and blogging at http://debosmita.wordpress.com/. She is a true Bengali, who will defend her city Calcutta against all odds. Any mention about books, travelling, photography, cricket, dance or swimming sparks her interest and she can enthrall all with an intelligent conversation on the same.

Dhiman Manji was born in Hyderabad, raised in Kolkata and now lives in Bangalore. He is basically a commerce graduate with a masters in computer and writes software programmes for 3Bs (bread, butter and beer). His interests include the standard things like music, movies, books, travelling and of course blogging, which he does at Chronicles of a Techie.

Kavita Saharia is a Dentist by profession. but unlike most of the dentists, she spreads love, happiness and a painless smile across everyone around her merely by penning down her heart on her Blog - My Room - one of the most popular personal blogs around blogsphere. Her blog keeps alive our old Indian Traditions and portrays various cultures from across India. She is a mother of two adorable brats and wife of the youngest child of her family. She loves listening to old hindi movies songs as much as she loves the life of Guwahati.

Pallavi, more popularly known as Crocodile or Pal around blogsphere is one of the most versatile writers. Her write ups are a mixture of stories, reviews, personal posts and sometimes verses too. A part-time disaster called 'mum', Pallavi haunts her blog called 'Writerzblock' whenever she is not being bullied by her son and his playmates! She loves to write fiction that seems true to life, and enjoys reading humour!

Rajlakshmi is a fun loving girl trying to make a niche for herself in the wide wide world. She is an avid reader, amateur writer, a blog addict, once-upon-time-was-a dancer and a Korean movie buff. Her journey with blogosphere started two years back and since then she is irrevocably-unreasonably-hopelessly in love with her new found passion. From poetry to crazy adventures with siblings; from exotic pets to weird roommates; from photography to social issues - her blog is an array of thoughts, a live journal of every moment she has rejoiced. Her belief – "It’s my life, and no one can take it from me".

Ranj Dass thinks that Life is a BoX of ChoColate!!. A simple yet most times mistaken for as a snub for her serious disposition. It takes sometime to break the ice and see the real person and her smile! Can be very vocal when her rights are intimidated though! Born and raised in Penang, Malaysia but nothing less a Tamilian. Just as the typical Penangites she loves beach and food! A graduate in Business Management who is still lingering in a University but this time as an Administrator. Seriously not much expectations in life as she realizes that the more higher she climbs, the more difficult it is for her to breathe but the view gets better! Her interests are reading, movies, music, travelling, going for a long drive alone and certainly blogging, which keeps her sanity intact!

Saurabh Panshikaris a commerce student who started blogging because he had nothing better to do. Having lived in a village all his life, he loves to compare it with the urban life. Sarcasm is his forte which is why he is rarely taken seriously. He loves writing 55 fictions that have a twist at the end. He loves observing people and analyzing them. He currently writes on his blog Stuff I Learnt Today.

Shanmuharajan - An ordinary man living in Chennai from the day he was introduced to this world by his mother. He thought of listing his achievements in sports, education and other activities; but realized that he had “none”. He has been a web designer for the last nine years. He loves reading technical news, so the thought of sharing them with people was born and to share the information; techedots was born! – http://edotsindia.blogspot.com/ He likes to watch cricket (thinking of those days when we played cricket in the Gandhi beach and MRC ground, Chennai) He is a big fan of the ‘humble cricketer’ Sachin and ‘Captain cool’ M.S.Dhoni. He loves to watch kamal Hassan movies as he thinks he is not only a Great actor but he is “Sakalakala vallavan” (a person who is best in all activities).

Shilpa Garg has worked for more than a decade as a pharmaceutical professional. She is now a blogger and freelance writer. Shilpa is an observer of life, things and circumstances. She has the knack of presenting things in a very simple way. Her writing reflects a *K.I.S.S.* and a *K.I.C.K*. Well, not literally… She prefers Keeping It Short and Sweet & Keeping It Crisp and Keen. Her write ups have the magic of leaving a deep impact on the reader in a positive way. If there is a person who can convey messages without sounding boring - that's Shilpa for you. She blogs at shilpaagarg.blogspot.com

Sreeram (Sree) doesn't know what he's up to, though on the run he's usually up to something. An ex-introvert, he now talks more than he writes and writes more than he is capable of. He tries to make light of everything, for he believes that he's stuck in a dark tunnel. He writes prose and poetry beyond sensibilities and bollywood. Failure to him is an opportunity to move on to something else, while success doesn't come that easy! He believes in not being - intelligent, critical, sane - and yes, he does not flirt. All said, he blogs at 'All in the Mind...' for that's something he created, for the very lack of it.

Suranga Date (aka Ugich Konitari), 60, mother of two, specializes in always trying out something for which she is not trained. Trained in the very early 70’s as a physicist in the US, she returned to India when it was considered a stupid thing to do. She worked in IT when it was in its infancy, and voluntarily retired from the field when it was considered THE field to be in, at the turn of this century. A closet doctor, occasional agony aunt, and commenter on all things middle class, she is a keen observer and befriender of ordinary things around her. She is the author of three blogs, and co-author of 1. Gappa, her first humanities blog, which is difficult to slot in any category.. Strewn Ashes, her poetry blog, where she specializes in writing comments in verse on interesting photo posts. Reghotya, a result of sarcasm, politics and a firm belief that she can draw in MSPaint. And Limerickwala, where she writes Limericks along with 4 other people, including the editor of this N-zine.

For Sushobhan Roy, Writing is a passion and books have been his best friends till date. A learner by nature, he has always tried to see purpose behind everything that he read. He is a fun loving guy and like to enjoy the thing called life. Sipping a tea sitting on his bed with a book in hand and watching the rains is the most blissful moment in his life. His mind wanders in the maze of nature and my source of inspiration in writing lies in observing situations in their own natural beauty. Someone rightly said “A great photographer doesn’t click an extra ordinary picture but he creates an extra ordinary picture of an ordinary situation”. He also believes that every situation carries the potential of an extra-ordinary narration. He blogs at http://sushobhan-readtoenjoy.blogspot.com/  and his forte lies in writing stories and poems. A software engineer by profession, he tries his level best to keep his dates with writing as often as possible.

A captivating writer, passionate believer and profound thinker, Shwetal Rai is also a Corporate Communications Consultant for an MNC and a freelance journalist for http://www.rediff.com/. Prior to this, she was a Senior Correspondent with CNN-IBN, Bangalore & Hyderabad. Currently based in Hyderabad, she loves travelling, meditating, cooking, reading and hanging out with friends. Additionally, she is a faculty with The Art of Living Foundation where she gets to spread smiles by imparting knowledge on the ancient sciences of meditation, pranayama and yoga. You can read her blog or follow her on Twitter.

Tikuli - An Indian woman blogger, a home-maker, mother of two, and above all, a free spirit, not chained by religion, rituals, customs, dogmas, caste and color! She is curious, adventurous and always ready to learn something new. An eternal dreamer, a poetess and a tale-weaver, Tikuli loves to travel, and can be found spinning magic on the canvas of life with the threads of her dreams at Tikulicious. Inspired to write about practically anything under the sun – from social-issues to health & wellness, to food & drinks – her passion for writing, her “life source”, is obvious in her posts.

After graduating in Chemistry, Vivek decided to study areas where ‘chemistry’ had failed. The obvious choice was industrial relations. He read for post graduate qualification in that field. He then worked for thirty-three years in a paint company. He does not speak about what he did there. [Others do not speak too!] His world of chemistry is now replaced by a world of mystery. Vivek has edited a book on Industrial Relations and has written travelogues, pen sketches and some articles on positive psychology and, to his surprise, those were published. What happened to the publishers thereafter is no longer a mystery. He has taken to teaching which is widely seen as his final assault on the Human Resource Management by influencing the impressionable minds of students. He has been teaching at a reputed institute for the last four years. As if this was not enough, he now advises some industries on HRM and trains managers.

Varsha believes that the only person she has to prove something to is herself. She does not crave for perfection but likes enjoying the learning experience that leads one up there. Mother of a toddler, she’s currently on a break from her career and is enjoying every new day and thing with her son. Being a private person, blogging for her is a medium to share her innermost feelings, views and ideas with like-minded people. She writes straight from the heart on her personal blog Food For Thought.