Indian Culture by a German

We all know that the Indian Culture had been one of the best in the world. With great hospitality and great people. The culture and art of India had always lured many people from across the world.

The latest prey to the beautiful Indian Culture is a German. He publishes a Blog named My India and writes about Indian Culture and Art that prevails here from Ages. Its a must read blog which shows the true face of Indian Art and Culture.

Art of India

India art holds a very unique place in the panorama of art that is displayed the world over. This is primarily due to the indigenousness and diversity that the art of India displays. Indian art is a strong reflection of the life of the Indian people, its culture and traditional values. This is clearly depicted in most of the artistic representations of India.

So much so that, no other medium singularly represents the Indian lifestyle in as much vivid-ness as does the Indian visual art. There are so many interesting manifestations of the art in India ranging from the elegant form of nataraja to the vibrant Rajasthani miniatures; also present are the diversified images of Buddha, and the iconography of the gods and goddesses. Most of the Indian art has been essentially made of perishable material and has not survived. But what has definitely survived is the religious art, which has been depicted in stone. The Buddhist and Hindu art, both hold symbolism in high regard and this can be seen in the many levels of meaning that the symbolism in gesture, posture, and attribute contain

Very little of the glorious India art and artistic achievement has survived the rule of the British. In order to produce art that appealed to the Western buyers the Indian artists adapted Western techniques and produced gouache paintings. But one source of reviving Indian themes was the Patua scrolls which contained the swiftly executed watercolor illustrations of many subjects >India art was pervaded with a strong and growing nationalist sentiment in the early 20s along with the conscious assimilation of Western styles. Some of the most promiment contemporary artists of the India art include Rabanindranath Tagore, Nandalal Bose, Jamini Roy, Amrita Sher Gil, N. S. Bendre, M. B. Samant, Francis Souza, Bhagwan Kapoor, M. F. Husain, Bhupen Khakhar, Ram Kinker, Dhanraj Bhagat, Amar Nath Seghal, Chintamoni Kar, and Amina Ahmad

How to improve readership

THE TOP FIVE WAYS TO IMPROVE YOUR BLOG...

Marketing is useless if you don't have a good 'product'. Here are five ways to ensure you do.

1. Provide something unique: There are so many blogs out there, even if you're writing brilliantly, you won't attract an audience if someone who's already more widely-read is writing on the same subjects. First-hand accounts or data, original research, surveys, original ideas, original graphics or photos or artwork, all help establish your uniqueness. World O'Crap, one of the newest and yet most popular Salon blogs, is written by a liberal who almost exclusively frequents right-wing conservative blogs and news sites, catches them in lies and exaggerations and inconsistencies, and then writes biting, hilarious satire about them. Unique, brilliant, and very funny.
   
2. Provide something valuable: Give readers a high 'return on their investment' in reading your blog by (a) entertaining them, (b) teaching or helping them to do something (lessons learned etc.), (c) informing them about something they need to know about, (d) giving them a 'take-away' (checklist, great quote, useful tool, etc. -- something that will cause them to immediately bookmark or blogroll or write about your site and revisit it often), (e) saving them time (distilling something down, analyzing it, researching it), or (f) providing deep insight about what something means (great graphics can help do this).
   
3. Be first: The first person to write about a particular topic will probably get a large share of traffic about it. Even if a more popular blog picks up on it, they're likely to link to you and send even more readers your way. First-hand accounts, on-the-spot photos, comments from people who were at the scene of breaking news all make fascinating reading. Even the first reviews and synopses of new movies and books usually attract a lot of attention.
   
4. Do your research: Invest time to learn as much as possible about what you're going to write about. Spend much more time reading and researching than you do writing. Check your facts. Learn to use search engines powerfully, so no time is wasted looking for just the right information. Don't neglect primary research -- stuff you get from offline sources like real people, in-depth television reports, people you can call or survey to get information that isn't available on the Web. Always cite and if possible link to your sources. Dig for great finds, stuff that isn't on the first page of the Google results, information that you need to go through multiple links to find, information embedded in the many databases that are online but aren't Googled at all. And never lie or exaggerate.
   
5. Learn to write very well: Master the art of story-telling. Learn to be brief without being too dense. Write in a conversational, accessible, friendly style. Eschew obscure and intimidating words, like 'eschew' (it means 'avoid' ;-) Ask people you trust to comment on your writing style. Use point form, examples, restatements for clarity. Be natural. Learn the 39 steps for story-writing; most of them apply to non-fiction, too. Have fun, be loose, show your emotion. Try to avoid clichés.
   

... AND THE TOP FIVE WAYS TO ATTRACT MORE ATTENTION TO IT

Once you've got a world class 'product', here's how to get people to look at it.

1. Use other media to pull people to your blog: Don't just write great stuff and wait to be discovered. Use e-mails (sparingly, selectively) to tell people you think might be interested in reading your blog about a particular article you've written. Make comments on others' blogs and include your blog URL when you do. Try to find an A-lister or two who might be interested in one of your articles, and e-mail them (just be aware many others are also looking for A-listers' attention, so do so sparingly and be patient). Or just comment, early and frequently, on A-listers' posts (first commenter on any new A-lister post often draws a lot of traffic). Join and participate in discussion groups, always leaving your blog URL at the end of every message. Contribute to e-magazines, either online versions of hard-copy periodicals like Ms., or specialized online journals like Virtual Occoquan. Use outgoing links on your blog and blogroll to articles and blogs written by people you'd like to have as readers: Chances are, they'll note you when they look at their inbound links list and come over to see what you said about them. And when people write to you, always answer, always acknowledge that they took the time, and always include your URL in your response. But don't feed the trolls (i.e. don't reply to readers who write hurtful, malicious or baiting comments or e-mails) or you'll have readers you don't want.
   
2. Write, at least sometimes, about 'hot' topics: You don't have to be a Googleslut to occasionally get some special buzz on a topic everyone is talking about. Being very focused on narrow, deep topics will get you a faithful readership, but not a particularly large one. Writing about something popular from time to time, especially if you do so before everyone else is writing about it, and say something unique or insightful, will broaden your audience, and bring in what Malcolm Gladwell calls connectors, people who can bring their entire, large networks of potential new readers to see your blog.
   
3. Make a great first impression: The average reader who links to your site looks at 1.5 pages and stays 90 seconds. Google hits command a small fraction of even that attention span. That's how long you have to make an impression that will bring them back. A memorable look, a powerful theme, easy navigation, legibility, making sure your links work and that you've spellchecked, using clear headings, clever, attractive graphics, summarizing your long posts, making sure your page doesn't take too long to load -- all these things help create a great first impression, and give your blog what's called 'stickiness'. The longer they stay, the more they'll remember and the more likely they'll come back.
   
4. Learn by studying who's reading what, and what works: I look at the end of each day who's been reading How to Save the World (most blogs have a 'referrer log' tool that lists your visitors; services like SiteMeter also provide this information). If I don't recognize a reader by their URL, I'll go to their site to see who they are and what brought them to my site (and often say 'thanks for visiting' while I'm there). And I track total popularity three ways (see chart above): Average hits/day per the Salon Rankings list, Number of Inbound Blogs per Technorati Cosmos (I also visit any new additions to my Inbound Blogs list), and Number of people subscribed to my RSS feed per Dave Winer's Who Subscribes List. I know that when I write about certain subjects like blogging or business innovation, I'll get a spike in hits. But I also know my posts on other subjects, like the environment, economics, and social networking, have different and loyal audiences, who I'd lose if I narrowed the focus of this blog. And some things, like poetry and short stories, I post despite knowing they have a very small audience, because the few comments I do get are essential to improving my writing skills. And because I love writing them.
   
5. Get outside more: Real Live Preacher, consistently one of the three most popular Salon Blogs, deliberately seeks out (looking at the Recent Updates List for unfamiliar blog names) and welcomes and helps new bloggers -- a tremendous way to get grateful new readers for his smartly written, well-laid-out blog. By using blog directories like EatonWeb or lists like Technorati's Current Events (or just typing a topic of interest in Technorati's search bar) you can find other bloggers interested in the same things you are, and connect with them. Or explore the blogrolls of blogs you like. When you find a 'like mind', link to them, e-mail them, comment on their weblog, or otherwise let them know you exist and where to find you. But don't be pushy and overtly ask them to link to you -- just let them know where you are, and they'll come around.
   

And finally: Be patient -- Viral marketing is very effective but takes time to work. Stick with what you're doing, especially if people are complimenting you -- word will spread, and the audience will come. And be yourself. If you try to affect a style that isn't 'you' it will come off as forced or dishonest.

Arts in the Indus Valley Civilization

The people of Indus were great lovers of the fine arts, and especially dancing, painting, and sculpture. Various sculptures, seals, pottery, gold jewelry, terracotta figures, and other interesting works of art indicate that they had fine artistic sensibilities. Their art is highly realistic. The anatomical detail of much of their art is unique, and terracotta art is also noted for its extremely careful modeling of animal figures. Sir John Marshall once reacted with surprise when he saw the famous Indus bronze statuette of the slender-limbed "dancing girl" in Mohenjo-daro:
"… When I first saw them I found it difficult to believe that they were prehistoric; they seemed to completely upset all established ideas about early art. Modeling such as this was unknown in the ancient world up to the Hellenistic age of Greece, and I thought, therefore, that some mistake must surely have been made; that these figures had found their way into levels some 3000 years older than those to which they properly belonged. … Now, in these statuettes, it is just this anatomical truth which is so startling; that makes us wonder whether, in this all-important matter, Greek artistry could possibly have been anticipated by the sculptors of a far-off age on the banks of the Indus."

Bronze, terracotta, and stone sculptures in dancing poses also reveal much about their art of dancing. Similarly, a harp-like instrument depicted on an Indus seal and two shell objects from Lothal confirm that stringed musical instruments were in use in the ancient Indus Valley civilization. Today, much of the Indus art is considered advanced for their time period.