Me and Ranjeet are doing a small campaign to plant and share saplings, free of cost to one and all in different parts of our city.

Do check out http://thesaplingproject.com/ for more details and to sign up for the saplings.

Hopefully if we manage to get more friends interested in the idea , we should be able to trigger similar endeavors in different cities all over India

Do lemme know your views/inputs .

Peace &  Breathe Easy :)

You’ve no doubt by now noticed that the sites got a bit of a re-design and some things got changed around last week. We wanted to highlight two changes to make sure everyone knows what changed.

The first and biggest is COMMENTS! Registration is no longer required to post a comment on any post. Of course if you already have an account you can still login to ensure your comments are attributed to you, but those who don’t can now post a comment without any long term commitment. Also, on the right you can see some of the recent comments so you’ll always know what the active discussions are. This was the most requested thing we’ve heard from people since our last redesign and we’re excited to see where it leads.

The next change is also something that was heavily requested, and that is a change to the ADS on the sites. You’ll immediately notice fewer of them, but what might not be as obvious is those smaller square ones to the right are specific to this city only and are being sold for a flat rate for a period of time rather than a confusing CPM/traffic/network model. Depending on the city, these range from $7-$175 for a full week. If you purchase one, during that time your ad will be the only one in that spot and will show on every page. We set these up both to make it easier for smaller local businesses to get their ads on our site, and also to help us bring in ads that relate better to our local audiences. Also, keeping these sites online is expensive and every little bit helps.

There are a bunch of other things we changed but we’ll leave those to you to investigate and take advantage of. Hope you like it, and we look forward to seeing you in the comments!!

Love,
The folks at MBHQ

I traveled into town today, in the aftermath of the terror that Mumbai has lived in the past week. The reason was a Tweet-up/Peace walk/gathering at Colaba Causeway. Honestly? I stand in deep respect of the police force, the fire-fighters and the NSG who delivered us from the terror. And I’m going to wear white tomorrow to symbolize our mourning as well as a plea for peace. Yes, I will also light a candle and thank every police-person I see for the bravery of their comrades. But mostly I went out today for myself. To reassure myself that I still could. I needed to. If as a Mumbaiker, this city’s spirit resides in me, then I speak for the city when I say I’m battered, I’m crawling, I am gasping for breath.

Traffic was light as it has been since Wednesday night, even for a Sunday afternoon/evening. Even so, the journey took us a half and hour either way. We passed shops that were open, people out for a stroll with their families, cars driving down…but there was an air of barely concealed tension. I had my camera out for the better part of the journey and I know I drew some curious (and not necessarily friendly) glances from the other cars. In case you’re wondering what an atmosphere of terror looks like, come to Mumbai right now.

The photos I took today of Mumbai in post-terror trauma….

Here’s the media jumping onto the sympathy-brand visibility bandwagon, over the Western Express flyover. DNA asks…

Spirit of Mumbai
FOR HOW LONG?

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Our very own rollicking MB Mumbai author, Ideasmith was recently featured in a Hindustan Times special on Women Bloggers.

Click here to see the full image and read the text.

Way to go Ideasmith. You rock baby !!

If Metblogs is a city, hub.metblogs is the playground. We kept hearing from people that one of their favorite parts of Metblogs was meeting and interacting with readers and writers from other parts of the world, as well as getting requests for more ways that readers could be involved besides just posting comments. We thought about this for a while and decided that with a network like this, a giant community area where folks from all over the world could hang out, post photos and videos, talk with each other, form groups, play games, send messages, and do about a million other things was probably a pretty fun idea. The Hub is that.

If you have any tech ideas or suggestions join this group and speak up. See you on hub.metblogs!

To many it’s not a big deal. Summer is just another season which will make you sweat a lot and then move on to another season. For me weather really has a direct effect on my lifestyle. So what is the key to a happy summer? A wee bit of change in lifestyle can really ease the heat this summer.
So here are things which can keep you cool this summer
• Cotton is the mantra of this season. Yes its time to take out those cotton kurtas which are the bottom of your trunk. Seriously it really makes a lot of difference even you have a 24/7 air conditioning.
• Go fresh! Eat lots of fresh fruits (melons especially, it is also good to loose those extra kilos) Stuff yourself with fruits. Fruits will keep you cool and fresh. Unlike heavy, spicy food which will trend to make you feel drowsy and heavy.
• Liquids please! Many don’t feel like eating much due to the heat ( I am one of them) and hence skip meals. But a hectic day at work can drain you off all the energy. So substitute your meals (if you’re not in the mood for it) with fresh juices, lime soda and get a bit adventurous with some mocktails.
• Avoid alcohol! It can get you all the more dehydrated (Alcohol dehydrates the body in any weather) and also trigger migraines (if you are prone to migraines)
• Water; No am not talking about Deepa Mehta’s movie here. Drink lots of water. You can lot health problems due to the heat by just increasing your water intake itself.
• Carry an umbrella. Yes umbrellas not only protect you from rains but also from sun.
• Always carry a high SPF sunscreen lotion. Lap it generously whenever you get out.

Ex Prime Minister of Pakistan, Benazir Bhutto was assasinated earlier today at an election rally near Rawalpindi in Pakistan. She had recently returned to Pakistan after a truce of sorts was announced between her and Dictator Musharraf who rules Pakistan after usurping power from a civilain govrnment in 1999.

Benazir Bhutto was the first female elected leader of any Muslim nation, and it is this singular achievement that overpowers all her wrongdoings. She was no paraih and has been in the news for amassing huge sums of wealth for herself and her family. However she was the one shining beacon of hope for a democracy in an otherwise failed democracy.

Hopefully, this will jumpstart the country out of its stupor and incite the people in non violent ways to kick Musharraf out of power and restore a real, elected leader.

For more on the spot reporting head over to Metroblogging Karachi, Lahore and Islamabad.

As Ex-PM Benazir Bhutto returns to Pakistan after a 8 year hiatus, the city of Karachi is racked by what seems are suicide bombers.

Two bombs exploded Thursday night near a truck carrying former Prime Minister Benazir Bhutto on her triumphant return to Pakistan after eight years in exile, killing at least 108 people and wounding 150, an official said. Party workers and police said Bhutto was unhurt. [ link ]

Our sister city blogs from Karachi and Lahore have live, on the ground coverage.

Lahore – Breaking news
Lahore – Bomb blast a suicide hit

Karachi – Breaking news
Karachi – Bomb blast hits “the” procession

The citizens of Mumbai, express their sorrow and grief to the citizens of Karachi at this difficult time.

First it was Orange…..

Then it was Pink …

And now it is Red.
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Frankly speaking I feel that this is the most over hyped wedding I have ever heard of. I agree that lately fame has gone to the head for Bachchan’s but we cant balme them alone. Ok Amitabh may have tried to cover the weddingexpenses by giving the full wedding coverage rights to a UK firm for 5 crores, (infact its very smart of him) . But our media is the main culprit for all the uneccessary importance to this event. Coming back to selling the right of the wedding coverage, this is something which is very very common in countries like US and UK where celebrities try to give the rights of the first photoshoot (Brangalina’s child) , or the rights to document the wedding ( there are a zillion celebraties who have done this) , life after wedding ( Remeber Britney Spears??.. and Jessica Simpron And Nick etc..). But this trend is farely new to India, there are few cleebraties who have done this, infact Bachchan’s are one of the first few.

Right now I think this all I found intersting in the Ash -Abhi wedding… the rest is all OK.

Anyways here are some pictures of the couple. Apparently someone who had been to the wedding circulated these pictures. Am sure Mr Big B must grinding his teeth seeing these pictures all over the media.