An intriguing story on Lok Sabha 2014 , Varanasi and Social Media pulse

Lok Sabha elections 2014

The battle of titans at Varanasi

As Indian political scenario is hotting up, and there is lots of buzz on social media. A TV channel was saying that as per a study, about 160 LS seats will have influence of Social Media this election. This is natural to know how our leaders are faring on social media. So far, we only hear terms about how active someone is or how many conversations are being done.

AN EXCITING APP – PULSE (FREE)

But there has not been a single holistic view which could truly measure the popularity. There is a free android application “Pulse” available which provides exactly this information. No more and no less. It gives the one single view of Leader’s popularity. You can download this app on any android device and monitor the social media activity for yourself.

Pulse - the free app for android

Pulse – the free app for android

Who tops the chart

This app provides a single view of popularity scores, and it also tells how much a leader’s popularity has gone up or down from the previous period. This app has really captured the sentiments as I noticed the day Arvind Kejriwal and Punya Prasoon Vajpayee video went viral, there was a sharp drop in the popularity of Arvind Kejriwal.

This app shows that Arvind Kejriwal and Narendra Modi are the leaders on social media, while Rahul Gandhi is not necessarily at third place.  This also shows some not so obvious names such as Rajnath Singh well ahead of other national figures, telling that their social media campaign is managed well.

 

popularity timeline of leaders

popularity timeline of leaders

The detailed report on Varanasi and its contestors

The site offering this app also provided a detailed report on  chances of Narendra Modi and Arvind Kejriwal and how they fare on social media.  This is a very interesting article to read.

Wedding of frogs

Wedding of frogs

Sounds strange, but this is true. Frogs are married in some part of india, according to a mythological ritual. There is a purpose behind this. In extreme summer, when there is no sign of rain, a yagna is performed to please Lord Indra. In Hindu Mythology, Indra is the person responsible for rains.

This yagya is nothing, but wedding of frogs are per the hindu rituals. Vermilion is applied on the forehead of female frog to mark her as the life partner of the male frog. This is an age-old tradition that if frogs are wedded, then Indra Dev will be pleased and monsoon will come. People attend the wedding in large numbers.

Wedding of frogs - for rain

Wedding of frogs – for rain

This wedding is performed with artifical frogs as well as with real frogs. The rationale behind this tradition is that during rainy season, frogs came out and croak to please Lord Indra. The wedding is performed for the same reason and this is thought that frogs will be pleased and welcome rain gods.

Read this article for a frog wedding in Varanasi.

This is not limited to India. The same ritual, wedding of frogs has also taken place in Bangladesh. The objective is the same, to bring rain on earth.The “bride” and “groom” came from two neighbouring villages 110 kilometres (68 miles) north of the capital Dhaka, according to the Bengali paper Jugantor. Villagers organised the wedding ceremony because the region was suffering a water shortage as it waited for monsoon rains to arrive, according to school teacher Noor Mohammad Kalon, who was a guest on behalf of the “groom.” More than 250 men, women and children came to the wedding. We all danced and sang,” the teacher, 42, told AFP by telephone, adding that the guests were served a traditional wedding feast of rice, lentils, fish, beef and sweets.
“The bride and groom were in special wedding dress. We blessed them in the ceremony and released them in a nearby pond afterwards.

Read the full bangladesh wedding story of frogs.

The most recent wedding of frogs has taken place inTakhatpur, India.  This is also celebrated in remote part of Assam.