Of Creative Writing, Awards and Celebrating Blogging

I may not know where to start, but I faintly remember when I started.

It all started when an uncle of mine gifted me a beautiful dictionary- Collins Co-build. He bought that for me, along with many books from the legendary Higginbotham's stores in Chennai. He came to see the ailing daughter of his business partner, who has just returned home after 10 10-month stay in Jaipur Hospital. At that time, he just came to offer condolences but he ended up making a friend in his friend’s daughter and on his next visit, gifted her some interesting books to read.

That dictionary remained the most cherished gift of my life. It helped that little girl, me, to build her vocabulary and learn interesting words, and soon she started playing with words, not as a pun but poetry. Yes, it was the summer of '95 when I chose to withdraw myself away from the friends who made a mockery of my leg or lack of it, until they drifted apart themselves over insecurity and inner competitions. I chose to make new friends; I chose to make friends with poetry and words.

Words never fail you. It is we who fail the words, maybe

I was young and enthusiastic then, full of ideas, full of causes. I started learning 5-6 words a day from my Collins Co-build dictionary and a little encouragement from my renowned English Tuition teacher who said I do not need coaching in English but should not claim a seat that a weak student may require. I couldn’t tell her that I heard a lot about her and wanted to learn more about her. I guess she understood my love for the language that was pushing me to spend more time with it. Mrs Papparao admitted me to her elite English class, where almost all the top students of my batch attended. She divided all the students into two batches- One slot of weaker students and another for not-so-weaker students. Of course, she allotted me in the latter batch. I was happy for her trust in my ability; it was indeed moré than what I had.

I started weaving poetry from my words. I would learn from an English dictionary and write all of them behind the used old computer paper prints that my dad would bring for me to write scrap. I would write my poems on them and treat them dearly. They were indeed dear. They gave wings to my words, and thus, I started writing poetry.

Such was my love for English literature that my first lecture in college turned out to be on the subject of English. The chapter was on Pele, and I fell in love with my English teacher,r Mrs. Shyamla Nair.

Mrs Shyamala Nair met Mrs. Papparao, and once again,n I started romancing my favorite subject- the English language. Maybe it was my love for her that made me never want to miss her class. Or maybe it was my love for creative writing, for Yeats, Wordsworth and more.

As Asher Roth once sang, the world is never enough for us. [James Bond]

Writing and Awards

Somehow, my love affair with poems stopped between my graduation and post-graduation years. It was only in my MBA 1^st year that, on the insistence of my professor, I sat for a “creative writing” contest and was amused to win 2^nd prize. Yes, it was my first official prize. I have won a few elocution awards in schools, but again, they were contests I participated in on the spur of the moment when my school house leaders wouldn’t find enough participation and urge me to speak, even though I would be the one who wouldn’t have prepared a word in the entire competition.  I spoke with heart and still do. That is what drew me to Blogging after a long hiatus in the year 2008 when I wrote my first post for this blog. Yes, my lord, this blog.

Celebrate blogging with Creative Writing

Writing was a freedom that set me free from daily agonies. When I said I spoke with my heart and still do, I was not boasting about myself but revealing what influences my style. I poured my heart when I learnt about Curry bashing, about on Gitanjali, who committed suicide due to social ostracism on her disability and also gave my unique tribute to Legendary Singer Michael Jackson. 

Not just social, political, celeb issues, I poured my heart with humor when I wrote about the “brides wanted” and “ Chetan Bhagat, 3 idiots meets Farmville, twitter and Khanna Aunty”. I thought humor, they said sarcasm, and we made satire with economics writing "changeOnomics". When I poured my heart over so many different subjects, why leave my first love, poetry, behind? Hence, I also wrote poems and Haikus. You thought creative writing was only about reviewing books? Then, numerounity reviewed books, wrote on food, movies, Aam Animal party, and Murders and took her creative writing to the next step With her zero cooking skills but creativity, she made a dish for Masterchef Vikas Khanna and won his heart too :)

And thank you all of you to also like my take on- celebrity Endorsements.

The beauty of the writing is that it doesn’t confine you in a boundary; it rather sets you free. That is the beauty of writing, blogging, inspiring and networking. Thus, I proudly #celebrate Blogging

Blogging, My best friend

Blogging never let me down; it never failed me. It understood me and stood by my side. Blogging is the honest companion, honest master and absolute honest employee that engaged me even when I was lost, alone and heartbroken.

WIN with Blogadda

Circa 2013, many things started changing in blogging. From the write and inspire, it started moving largely through networking. Yes, your voice needs to be heard to prevent it from becoming noise. I cannot tell you the joy when a stranger tells you- I love your writings. It inspires me and motivates me to see life outside my comfort zone.

Today I have another blog- haute kutir which is primarily a lifestyle blog. It is blogging that made me meet beautiful minds around the world, around the cities I traveled and lived in. From Chennai, Hyderabad, Bangalore, Kolkata, Nagpur, NCR, Mumbai and other cities, some of my fondest memories are purely surrounded with my blogs.

Blogging has seen a few lows, too. Work pressure and time constraints prevented me from writing. And if that was not enough, pseudo-blogging took precedence. From productive networking, it started becoming “scratch my back and I scratch yours”. I was demotivated and withdrawn.

And then in true Munnabhai MBBS style- Ek Din Blog mohalle mein Blogadda WIN aayi [One day Blogadda came]. It announced one-of-a-kind blog awards, and I was smitten. My joy saw no bound when I saw my blog shortlisted for “Best Blogs in Creative Writing”. Alas, I could not win the award that time and was very bitter and heartbroken. When I gathered myself, I realized how the nomination and appreciation, per se, were my best prizes.

Circa 2015, Blogadda announced chapter two for WIN and much to my surprise my Blog is re-nominated in the “best creative Writing award category”. Whether I win or not, I am not going to stop WIN [ning]-  i.e. Write – Inspire – Network.

Let’s #CelebrateBlogging , it is an everyday festival!

And I still think that I can save the world with Rhythm and Rhyme.

_________________________________________________