Hiatus and back!

The last post on this blog was on June 12, 2017 where I closed the writing with the portentous words – to be continued. Trust me, I had all intentions of continuing it as well. In fact, I have a post half-written sitting in my drafts, to conclude the story on Ekalavya. However, quite a few things have happened after I wrote those words. Actually, lots of things happened last year.

1 engagement, 2 weddings, 1 huge loss, 1 birth announcement, and plenty of overwhelming emotions. It was quite a year.

By the end of the year, I didn’t even have the energy to write a year-end mandatory wrap-up. I really did want to get one out there, even if it was just for the sake of writing something and getting the fingers to mirror the thoughts. But hey, fatigue took over and all that! I think out of all the posts that I drafted (some in my head, of course) this one was really the bummer. I had gotten used to the idea of writing a year end post over the last few years recapping the years’ happenings, as well as hits and misses.

That was last year!

This year, the biggest and the most important news is the arrival of the little one, Ved, who has us all wrapped around his tiny little finger.

No, I am not going to elaborate on the entire pregnancy journey, nor about the joy motherhood has brought upon me. There are plenty of other blogs you can refer to for that. For now, I am just enjoying the journey. It is safe to say, life has changed but not too entirely. Of course, there is less sleep, more of the learning moments, more of the day’s timings revolving around what Ved does and on what he wants, but I still read, I still browse, I still buy stuff that I don’t need. I managed to watch snippets of shows I enjoy, I have gotten back to work and things are slowly settling into a routine. The post-partum hormones created a bit of ruckus for a while and though they do make an appearance every now and then, it has more or less settled down a bit.

In between all this, there is that immense learning that comes from being responsible for a tiny little person, along with the awareness that much as I want to be a super-mom, I am only human and that it is okay to ask for help when you need it and you won’t be judged for it.

So that’s that!

In all probability, this post will count as a year-end post (its mid-Nov already, where did the time go?) with the blog going back to sleep until next year, unless I manage to churn something out. Well, there are always the drafts that I can complete and post :-) And the concluding part of Ekalavya, of course.

What have you all been upto? :-) 

Because you can't really make me stay away from a tag about books :)

Do you have a certain place at home for reading?

Nope. I have a few favourite places but I read almost everywhere :D

Bookmark or random piece of paper?

Used to be bookmarks. But now as much as I hate to admit it, dog ears :(

Can you just stop reading or do you have to stop after a chapter/a certain amount of pages?

Depends on the book honestly. If it’s highly engrossing, I keep saying to myself – just another chapter. Just one more! But otherwise I can just stop mostly after a chapter though.

Do you eat or drink while reading?

Yes! Yes!

Multitasking: Music or TV while reading?

Nope. No TV definitely. Mostly none. Sometimes music in the background.

One book at a time or several at once?

Used to be a stickler to one book at a time, but now several at once.

Reading at home or everywhere?

Everywhere :)

Reading out loud or silently in your head?

Silently in my head.

Do you read ahead or even skip pages?

I don’t ever skip pages or read ahead, but I may skim the content.

Breaking the spine or keeping it like new?

Keeping it like new of course. Breaking the spine sounds too gruesome to hear! :-/

Do you write in your books?

Sometimes.

If you could invite one author and one of their fictional characters to lunch, who would you invite and why?

Mario Puzo and Michael Corleone. Without a doubt! :) Can you imagine the conversations that can take place.

Godfather has been one of the most engrossing and one of my most favourite books of all time! It kind of heralded my start into reading bigger and better novels.

What book do you wish the author would write a prequel for?

Harry Potter. I would really like to know more about James, Lily and the gang.

Which two characters (not from the same book) would make a good couple?

Ok, I will go with my top 2 favourite characters, but I don’t really want them to be a couple.

Lisbeth Salander and Michael Corleone.

If you ran into your favourite author on the subway and only could say one sentence to them, who is it and what, would it be?

Err. I have so many of them. But if I have to go with one, I’d pick Steig Larsson and at the risk of sounding flabbergasted, I’d ask – “Lisbeth Salander?  How did you even think up of such a character! Whoa!”

What book made you a reader and why?

Oh plenty, starting right from the Tinkles, Gokulams and Champaks to the Enid Blytons, Nancy Drews, etc.

Gives me a nice escape into another world!

Incendio!
Your bookshelf just caught fire. Show the book you’d save.

Don’t you mean books? And don’t you mean shelves as well!

Which dystopian world would you want to live in if you had to choose one? Why?

The magical world of Harry Potter :)

What is your most epic read of all time?

Can’t bring myself to think of just one. I’ll go with my top 5.

Godfather – for taking me into worlds beyond Sidney Sheldon and Mary Higgins Clark

Steig Larsson – The Millennium trilogy!

Harry Potter – for providing me with an escape into a world quite unlike and unusual.

Kane and Abel – For being the first ever book I couldn’t really put down, in spite of having my board exams at the time!

Palace of Illusions – for showing me different perspectives of an epic I have come to love.

9 years and counting... :)

I completed 9 YEARS of blogging yesterday. That is a long time for someone like me who gets bored of things and hobbies fast. It is also one of the few things that have been a constant in my life these past few years. One of the few that I stick to out of the handful that I have. J

I started blogging exactly 9 years ago, on a balmy Thursday evening at ASB. A year into my MBA course, I was at a loss. Until then, my only outlet was random diaries, notebooks and such most of which I had burned the year before I joined for MBA. Yes. I was not thinking. Being obsessive about keeping my secret scribbles were more important. In hindsight, it was probably a blessing in disguise. ;) :P Blogging therefore was quite new. On a rocky internet connection, sitting at our third floor computer lab, I gingerly opened blogger and tried navigating my way through it. My biggest inspiration then was this senior from my school called Sandhya. Hers was one of the few blogs I had come across and I openly admired the effortless way that she wrote. I hijacked the title of my blog, from a friend who had casually mentioned it in passing, created a blog, and was on my way. Devious uh! :P

Being a not-so-very-expressive person myself, I admire people who can express themselves eloquently. I have a high regard for people who can do things effortlessly. Like public speaking. Having the ability to say no. Dancing. Writing.

When it comes to expressing myself, I find that I prefer writing to speaking them out.

I admit! I am sucker for words. I unabashedly revere people who can create magic with words. I find myself frequently getting lost in other people’s words, and seeing reflections of myself in them. This is usually coupled with self-pity at the fact that I will never be as good a writer as the person’s words that I have just imbibed, and as well awe of the words that I have just gotten lost in.

When it comes to blogging, I’m usually a stickler for perfection. The words have to perfect, the sentences framed just so, and the meaning conveyed just right, no innuendoes other than the one that I have intended. Out of the 351 posts that I have published over the last 9 years, only about 1/4^th of them are up to that level of perfection that I so desire. The Mahabharata Chronicles are one of them. Other ones are under the label Knitted Yarn and Being a Girl. These are my favorite ones. The ones that I have written long back when I started blogging are more fluff pieces than anything else is. Now when I read them, I cringe and think about how much better I could have written them. Most of my turbulent 20's are covered in here. However, I do realize that they are an essential part of my life that show how much I have evolved and how much has changed from back then to now. From whom I was to who I am now. :-) :-)

These days, blogging is like therapy. Gone are the days when I had to blog just for the sake of it. Nowadays I blog when I feel like it. When I want to express something. Some Joys, some Hidden Angst, Snippets of Life, New Beginnings, and of course Milestones like these.

Tweaking the popular adage,

“My words sound better coming from my hands than from my mouth. My Expression, My life! ;-)"

Here’s to countless more years of blogging and expressing my life out! :) :)  Cheers!

Damn you... Writer's Block!!! Oh and there's a template change too!! :) :)

What do you do when you have a big-sized Writer's block?? 

[Pic Courtesy: http://www.3hatscommunications.com/blog/2011/writers-block/]

You change your template and hope it inspires you enough to pen something down...!!! :P 

Hope you guys like it! :P 

And also here's hoping it DOES inspire me to post something soon....