gutfeel.com

Different places are characterized by different languages and it amuses me very much to when I notice these differences when it pertains to a single language. For example, English is spoken differently at different places around the world. Similarly, in India, the way hindi is spoken in the north will be very distinct from that in the west. Here I am not only referring to the accent but the usage of words also. Different words are spoken in the same context. So the shades of language may vary from one place to another.

For people like me, who are still new in the elearning field, the resources and latest news will help to stay abreast of the latest elearning trends across the world. I have researched and listed down a few of the resources for my reference and for anyone in the same field. Here’s my take for the time being, will add more to the list.

eCornell Research Blog: This blog i came across contains relevant info and latest news on the elearning industry. It also has a list of elearning resources, which are quite comprehensive.

Learning for 2020: Another interesting blog is that of an Australian learning technologist whose views and visions about the future learning and the role of the instructor as a convincing evangelist, guardian angel, to a manipulative devil is worth a read. His views on how the students in 2020 will want to use technology for learning are quite fascinating.

I had always wanted to read this novel by Ayn Rand, but couldn’t find enough time for it. However, I did lay my hands on it a couple of days back on the visit to Crossword, the bookstore in Mumbai. A friend had suggested reading it long back and praised it so much that it remained somewhere at the back of mind.

At the outset, the first couple of pages were not at all interesting, but as it is progressing, it is becoming something to reckon with. As of now, I have only finished Part 1, but I am impressed. The characters have so much of substance that you are bound to think about the fact that can there be real people like them? Howard Roark, the architect, is shown so confident of whatever he does that it sometimes feels as if so much of confidence is indecent…he would not settle of anything less perfect in his profession (What he calls perfect is his perception, not what the world thinks and that’s where the conflicts arise). Other characters are also intriguing enough…but that’s all for now because I am again going to be glued to the novel and write down my reactions to it once I am through.

Since we have come to Mumbai, we have witnessed numerous festivals, more so because it was such time of the year. At first, it was Ganesh puja, then Durga puja, Dushara, and lastly Diwali. Ganeshotsav is celebrated with great enthusiasm here. Almost every household will bring an idol of Ganesha, either big or small and will worship and celebrate for a certain number of days before it is immersed in the sea. One day, I happened to see the dances that people perform during that time on the streets, be it Bandra or Andheri. Ladies all decked up, matching step with step, with colourful costumes dancing merrily and the men folks also taking part alongside. One thing they take care of is the traffic, which does slow down but is not disrupted altogether. In North India, you might notice that even a small wedding procession will result in traffic jam. In this civic sense, Maharashtra scores over north India.

When we planned to shift base to Mumbai from Gurgaon, we thought we might not like the hustle and bustle of the city, the life is too mechanical they say, the bigger the metropolis, the more mechanical your life is, the wise men point it out. In Mumbai, you can’t escape the distances and the crowds. Gurgaon was a quieter place in comparison, a big concrete jungle I can say, with the Mall mania growing leaps and bounds. Mumbai has a different soul to it.

Welcome to GutFeel.com! This new look to Gutfeel.com was due for a long time now. It was getting delayed by one thing or the other, my work, shifting to Mumbai and so on. But when a hacker hacked the forum last week, it served as a last straw and I decided to try out something new with my site. The general concept will remain the same, you are still welcome to express your opinions, however now it will look more like any other blog on the Internet, might not sound the same though ;-). So welcome to my new world once again and express what you feel!