Learning a new language - how fascinating and romantic does that sound!!  Quite a lot, does it not?  But how many of us at some point of time; have started learning and new language, and left it half way through. Because, it is tough.  Because it is frustrating, how awfully slow we make progress.  Because, how much we have to twist our tongues for the pronunciation to become perfect.  Because, trying to remember the grammar of new language, we almost forgot grammar rules of our mother tongue.  You can go to language schools, take language courses from affiliated institutes,  go for an online subscription of a language course,  use a 'learn Spanish in 100 days' book, or just learn it from a friend ...this arduous effort can have all these and lot more such 'becauses'. Tough part is, these are not mere excuses.

So here are some tricks that could make things easier.

1. Before you decide upon learning a new language, give it a good thought.  Its not just all fun and romantic. It is a rough and bumpy road ahead.  There would be times, when you would really want to quit.  It needs patience, determination, endurance and most important... love.
2. Be positive.  Look at not how slowly you are making progress, but how many words or grammatical functions you are learning every day (or every week for that matter).  Well it took you years to learn your mother tongue, with people around you speaking that language all the time.  I am not even considering here the scientifically proven fact that, children learn faster than adults, especially when it comes to languages.
3. Plan your language learning. The schools or books would always give guidelines about this.  As a rule of thumb, you should first learn words; say nouns and pronouns, then verbs, and then adjectives and adverbs etc etc.  Than should come basic grammar rules, simple sentence formations.  Next you can go for detailed grammar, and complex sentence formation.  There goes the rule, but you are the boss to decide upon which works the best for you.
4. Make use of a Notebook. Do not try to remember everything, believe me it is difficult.  We are so many things going on in our lives; work, family, friends, hobbies... we cannot use our brain to remember some new words with weird pronunciations we are learning.  Write down the words, grammar forms etc and have it handy most of the times.  Just open that notebook and go through it when you have some free time at work or when you are commuting. Write down when, you think of a new word, the translation of which you want to know to ask your teacher.
5. Try to learn the culture of the country/place this new language belongs to.  It makes the learning more interesting. Also you can get more familiar with the usage of the words or sentences you are learning.  Once you get a fair grasp on the language, try to learn the slangs of that new language.  It would bring you a step closer to the heart of that language and culture.

So keep these check points handy, and get set on a romanticendeavour.  Believe me, learning a new language is really fun!

I love traveling to an extent that it can be categorized as a passion.  But with a busy day job, which requires me to be available during most of the weekends also, makes it difficult to satiate my passion. Planning for a vacation has several other constraints; availability of friends/company, choice of place that caters to everyone’s taste, planning the itinerary to everyone’s comfort.  Sum up these all and it brings down the probability very close to zero.

Which is why I thought, traveling alone could be an option to think about; though I have never done that before, not at least for vacations.  And till now, let alone doing it, thinking about it seems a bit weird to me. But this option sure has quite a few affirmative undertones to it.

• Overwhelmed with work, bored of routine life, need a break.. You can just check out in internet, pack your bags and you are ready to go. On a weekend or take couple of days leave on the weekday itself (this is more fun).  You can just unwind and be back with a rejuvenated mind and body.
• Plan out your own itinerary, do what you want to do and go to places where you want to go. There would be absolutely no constraints.  Your decision about time and place is absolutely your choice. You can just sleep till late in the hotel room, eat your favorite cuisine, go out for a stroll, watch TV/ movies in the evening. And the best part is when you go back you can tell people, 'I went on parasailing or trekking'. How interesting does that sound!!!
• You can spend your money the way you want, can eat in a small fast-food joint and go shopping to your heart's extent. Or you can stay in a flashy hotel, and use the room service to pamper yourself if you plan a lazy vacation. Or you can stay in a small guest house or youth hostel if you are planning a more adventurous vacation and just need a place to sleep at night.
• You can try out new things that you have never tried, if you are introvert and not very good at socializing, you can try out talking to new people and making new friends. Best that can happen is, you will make new friends. And worst would be, you would never see them again. Everything in life should be given a chance, and what could be the better chance when you have least to loose!

Well traveling alone is not all nice and cozy, it has its own discomforts. One needs to be extra careful when traveling alone.

• Travel safe, be aware of your surroundings and people as no one is there to watch your back.
• Plan your itinerary beforehand, and have the necessary maps addresses with you all the time. You cannot afford to get lost.
• Travel light, as you would have to carry your luggage with you most of the time. No one will watch it for you when you are going to the restroom or standing in the queue for ticket or buying your food in a fast-food joint.
• Be extra cautious while making new friends, do not be silly to reveal your personal details or address to a new friend you have made on a trip. Be on your guard all the time, do not end up getting drunk in some bar and getting mugged in an alley.

Vacations for most of us means along with family or friends, and I would not deny that it's great fun.  But may be once in a while it is okay to come out of the cliché, and try out something new.  Trust me, it is going to be an entirely different kind of experience. Different can not always be good, but different is always worth a try.

You can say that the majority of my footprint, on the internet, is blogging.  It started with Pondering's Of Mahesh Bhat, where my blogging made a humble begining.  It then prospered with Splat and then I went on to write for KalaaLog too.

For those who do not know about blog, I will point to a good article - rather than write about it myself.  See what Darren Rowse says about blogs in: What is Blog?

So, what can blog do for you?