• The A to Z Challenge

    The A to Z Challenge

    Currently many bloggers are busy participating in a unique challenge where bloggers write about a topic starting with a the letter of the alphabet for that day. Thus, Bloggers are supposed to post every day except weekends for the whole month of April. Started in 2010 by Arlee Bird, it has now been around for twenty years!

    For several years I used to join the A to Z challenge. This simple blog hop was a fun way to showcase your own blog and discover other bloggers. I used to enjoy participating in this international Blogathon.

    Initial Foray into Blogging

    When I first started blogging (which is almost 20 years ago), I was going through the empty nest syndrome and was happy to find a new technology I could learn and a new way to share my news with the world.

    Not that I had any earth-shattering news to share but being fond of writing, this was a way to keep in touch with all my friends and relatives in one go.

    How wrong I was. None of my friends or relatives were interested in ‘following’ me, so I ended up sending the blog link to them. Anyway, I still persisted and joined a blogging group called “WriteTribe,” started by a blogger called Corinne, whose blog ‘Everyday Gyaan was very popular. (Write Tribe eventually disbanded and Corinne shifted to Substack).

    But I plodded on and in an effort to publicise my blog, I actively participated in Indiblogger and Blogadda. I had several interesting experiences with Blogadda like winning an all expenses 4 day trip to Malaysia sponsored by the Malaysian Tourism department. I also won several prizes, like gift vouchers and a Hamilton Sandwich Grill!

    Not only did I discover many interesting bloggers but also increased my own following with new bloggers commenting on my blog and eventually signing up as subscribers.

    Why Did I Stop?

    I also realised that many bloggers seriously planned their posts months in advance and produced very slick posts – unlike mine, which were literally done on the day of. It was not a spontaneous blog post!

    I also realised that my comments on many of the blogs went unacknowledged; forget about extending the courtesy of visiting my blog. This was particularly the case with overseas bloggers.

    Then there were ‘Indian Editions’ of the A to Z Challenge but again, these were the same bunch of bloggers who were members of the Write Tribe, Blogadda, Indiblogger who I was already interacting with!

    So now, this April, I am just following Balaka’s posts on Trina Looks Back : a delightful collection of stories based on Tarasundari and Ruchi.

    I would strongly recommend a visit to this blog .

    Who knows, it may inspire you to come up with 28 stories for the A to Z Challenge next year!

    Ciao

  • Good morning April

    Good morning April

    I reached out to my phone and began checking messages. I like to get an early start and find out how I should plan my day . As usual there was a birthday message on our School WhatsApp group and within minutes all of us wished the birthday girl. After ten messages, someone realised that the birthday girl’s birthday was in October. It was an April Fool prank that all of us had fallen prey to.

    On our building WhatsApp group, there was a message that the Delhi Govt had declared a partial lockdown effective from 15th April. When one clicked on the message all that one got was April Fool!

    Yesterday I waited an hour at my friend’s clinic only to be told to meet him today at 11 am .

    I am waiting at the clinic and there is no sign of him.

    I wonder if this is another April Fool prank.

    Ciao

  • March happenings

    March happenings

    Tomorrow we’ll be saying good bye to March. Where did it go by so fast?

    Most of the month went by in Eye drops thanks to the two cataract surgeries I had this month. I’m not complaining – as a matter of fact, I’m thrilled with my new vision.

    Friends

    Apart from the surgeries, I did manage to catch up with friends from the past: a friend who had come down from the UK and the other from Austria.

    As always, overseas friends means that you can catch up with friends whom you mean to meet in Mumbai but fail to do so . That’s because you can always catch up with them any time.

    Meeting M is always delightful because she has a contented, calm demeanour which always makes me ashamed of my own hyperactive mode of operating.

    This time round I met her twice – once at a lunch which was exquisite – right from the company, the menu and the table setting. It was an old- fashioned lunch (now called home parties) where we experienced find-dining at its best. The tableware was classic, the service par excellence and the whole experience totally relaxing.

    The next day I met M again at the club. This time round, it was purely a school gang which brought back memories of school days. Meeting school friends is another cup of tea. When you are transported back to your school days and go back to honest banter.

    I keep telling myself that I should find time to be more particular about meeting people because a time will come when it will be impossible to meet anyone.

    With Mr. Trump and his cronies waging what seems a senseless war, all of us are impacted by his actions even though we didn’t vote for him. As matter of fact, I am so put off by him and his country that I refused to renew my visa as I have no intention of seeing the parts of the US that remain to be seen.

    Actually, how many of us can really see each and every site that is meant to be seen? Thanks to Instagram, everyone feels compelled to see parts of the world. Holidays have become more of what you have seen and what you have eaten rather than what you have experienced.

    Perhaps, I shall re-visit my travel posts and write about what I have experienced instead.

    But I’m afraid, the posts may not be very flattering always.

    Looking for a book to read?

    Look no further.

    This month despite my eye surgeries I managed to read three books.

    Even though I admire Arundhati’s writing, I have never approved of her activism so I was a bit reluctant to read her book. Luckily, I borrowed it from the library and since it was in great demand, had to read it really quickly.

    Even without this, I would have finished it in a day because quite frankly, it is a story that pulls you in. A young family struggling to keep their head above water, a completely dysfunctional extended family and its fight for survival does make a compelling tale. But still, I find some bits hard to digest – I’m sure there must have been a lot of exaggeration. Arundhati’s fractious relationship with her mother seems to me a typical mother-daughter conflict and not as horrendous as she makes it out to be.

    Sophie Kinsella used to be one of my favourite authors when I first discovered her several years ago. But recently I re-visited her books and was quite disappointed to find that I didn’t enjoy them any more. I mean when I re-read “Remember Me” , I could hardly remember having read it at all! Similarly when I re-read “Surprise Me”, I had to actually give it up within two chapters as I didn’t find it one bit funny.

    Perhaps there’s nothing funny after all

    It may be the general global atmosphere that is responsible for not being able to find anything funny and I’m glad this month is over.

    As per the political pundits and astrologers, April promises to be another gloomy month, with each day bringing more and more news of doom. So perhaps I should continue with walking, listening to my podcasts, reading books that will more likely than not disappoint and generally hope that things do begin looking up.

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