The Journey Till The 100th Post


My 100th post…nearly 3 years, a long time indeed. Yet here I am, with a 100 posts on my blog. Am no writer & for me this very small achievement may perhaps be the only great thing I’d ever do to mark my “literary career”. So get ready to hear a lot of self-praise & anecdotes.

 I remember I began reading when I was in Std 2 –Champak was my first ‘book’ not related to academia. As I read each story, I marked the contents page & was so worried when within the night I’d finished them all. I’ve always been a fast reader & craved for more & more. As I received new books for the school year, I’d first finish the English literature books(Gulmohar anyone?) The first time I penned a so-called poem was after reading one of my cousin’s. She’s been my very first inspiration, at 8, am not sure what inspiration meant but I sure did know I wanted to write like her to get praised!
It was Rs5 then!

Unlike other parents, mine were very encouraging & never criticised me spending time reading books or writing something. My school St. Joseph’s Girls’ High School too gave me a platform that made me write more. I remember receiving a Mango-Bite chocolate from the fiercest teacher in school for reciting my first published (in Telegraph) poem in class! And one comment from one of my teachers had brought about the turning point of the genre of my write-ups. Having read a short story written by me in class as an assignment, she’d said-“She has a knack of creating humour in her writing”. I didn’t know what ‘knack’ meant, I went home & looked it up and well, devoted myself to retain the validity of that comment till date.  When I shifted to Goa, Saraswat Vidyalaya in Mapusa treated me as an alien-a good one. I was perhaps the only one from an English medium background in Std 5, the school had Marathi medium until then. The odds were in my favour & I lost no time in utilizing it. Morning school assemblies & speech became my forte, for the first time letting me venture into public speaking.

In +2, i.e. my first college days, I thought well no one would care less about what I wrote. But thankfully there’s always this one teacher who would spot you! He was our English professor-rather eccentric & having a controversial career. We were supposed to write about celebrating our birthdays. Mine was a rather subdued one, about a girl having to spend hers all alone in her hostel. He liked it & the fact that I’d never spent a day in a hostel made him love it more.

Blogging appeared rather late in my life & when it did there was no looking back. I’d found a heaven for myself! I could write & be read by millions(though my blog doesn’t get that many hits..yes, sad). I met others that inspired me & made me humble. Met many who influenced my style of writing & made it look less amateurish. I grew as a reader & blogger and as a human being too, for I understood the reach of my blog when my old friend managed to find me because of it & when I visited my grad college my juniors went gaga about it! I can say that I too played my part in inspiring many like me, from my own sister to friends I know just through Facebook. 

And though my parents now think I should be only devoted to my career-read getting a job & my grandpa seriously doubts I write erotica, I am happy blogging! I love both my blogs & hopefully I shall reach the 200th mark soon. 
But for now I shall take a short vacation & do my part in securing my rozi-roti i.e. campus placement season. Wish me luck friends!

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