== IT appears to me, from certain comments I have been receiving, people aren?t adjusting well enough to my ?change of style? these days, from the former serious and to-the-point writer to the new Juggernaut who turns every review into a personal conversation with the reader and himself. Or probably they have forgotten that I was, and still am, a specialist of the ?purposeful? style that it has come to be called. I must assure these people that this style that they are such enthusiastic connoisseurs of is actually something of my trademark and still continues to be.
So, to issue a profound reminder to my regular readers and to prove to my newfound critics that the Juggernaut of his earlier days on MouthShut isn?t lost, I present you a review that, I assure you, is written in a purposeful, formal and to-the-point style that was once a trademark of me. It is not lost: it has been kept in the backburner. I hope those critics of mine are reading this. Aarvee? ==
== The Review ==
Presentation is an art the importance of which can neither be ignored nor underrated. Seemingly banal ideas and theories can be made to look remarkable and unique by intelligent presentation. For example, I can write down: ?The sun rose early?. The sentence conveys the meaning in a very direct fashion and has nothing that can hide the meaning.
Yet, it is not appealing. However, putting it in this fashion??The night that had cast a blanket of darkness over the vales and the city slowly brightened and faint and beautiful red light crept across the many roads and lanes of the town, casting the blanket away, earlier than the day before??we see that the same sunrise has been made from an everyday occurrence into something beautiful and something that is exquisite.
The only way an individual can present himself to the mass of readers here on MouthShut is through his profile page and therefore, before the reader comes to his reviews, it is up to the writer to create a profile that would tempt the visitor to sample his work. I myself feel ?invited? into reading others? reviews when the profile is endearing, and virtually asked to leave if there is no profile at all, or a very meager one if any?and that I suppose should be common to all.
Once I sample someone?s works, I judge him by them alone but till I reach them, it is the profile that plays a role. The basic point remains, in order that someone may make others ?feel like? reading his or her reviews, it is through an effective profile page, prima facie, that he can do so.
== Personage and Countenance ==
I had been, for a very-very long time, nothing but a faceless entity on this website. It was only recently that I added my photograph to my profile. So, for me to stress the importance of a photograph is actually like the kettle calling the pot black. However, since it is black, it won?t hurt saying so.
When, at least on an electronic forum as this, one displays a picture of oneself for the world to see, one is, first, sending a message of trust and, second, extending a gesture of mutual respect and understanding. It might not seem so on the face of it: but the role of just a photograph on the profile page is truly so significant. Keeping one?s face hidden from one?s readers is almost intimidating them.
My reader might not consider the absence of a photograph to have such a significant meaning: but both you and I must agree, the implication of that absence is certainly something of that kind.
The second most important effect the photograph can have on the visitor is something of the writer?s interest. The photograph imparts a liveliness to the profile page and creates an inviting environment. It is the writer?s first step towards effectively tempting the visitor to sample one of his reviews.
Moreover, what the writer writes about himself and about his interests have a greater impact simply because the writer?s face is visible to the visitor. It is human nature to associate descriptions of people with a face: if the real face is not to be seen, then all of us make a mental picture of the person being described. So, my point is, the photograph imparts a flavor of honesty and sincerity to your paragraphs about yourself and your interests.
== I am Who I am Who I am ==
Writing about oneself looks, on the face of it, nothing less than a cakewalk. I assure you, it is nothing less than a cakewalk. However, writing about oneself effectively, honestly, yet in a manner that would endear yourself to the visitor is, if nothing else, extremely difficult. None of us know ourselves better than others do, after all. It is difficult for me to give my reader a ?rule of thumb? about writing an introduction to oneself: there is something unique in everyone. Yet, there are certain things a writer can avoid doing while composing a small ?resume?, so to say.
First of everything, it is not a particularly intelligent idea to boast too enthusiastically of one?s achievements unless there is something phenomenal about them (your winning or being nominated for the Nobel Prize for instance), since these boastful resumes invariable put off your visitor. They create, to begin with, an atmosphere of one-upmanship, as though the writer is trying to question the visitor?s academic excellence in comparison to his own. There again, I notice, I have said something that my reader might not agree with. If you do give a little thought about it?try to recall what you felt about people who continuously repeat how good they were at college?you would have to say, I have been accurate in my hypothesis quite substantially.
The most ideal thing to do, therefore, is to write about the people one loves, about the things one likes to do and why those people and those activities are so special to you. It might sound stereotyped and banal, but it is very effective. The writer is, by writing the aforementioned things, in some sense making a friendly and close conversation with his visitor, invariably reducing the distance between them. To be a little more bold, the writer can declare the fundamental philosophies he stands for, what he thinks life is all about and what his greatest fantasies are. These have the same effect of ?confiding? in the visitor. It is good to remember that when you confide in someone, or come close to it, you give him a message of trust, bringing him closer to you, invariably.
Of course, I must remind my reader of one thing: it is always smart to refrain from mentioning personal tragedies or losses. It gives an impression as though the writer is searching for pity and sympathy?an impression that is sure to put people off.
Continued in the comments section. Yes, probably I have lost my touch at brevity of late!
