Memories - the journey till now

My journey as a blogger is just like a software which has multiple versions, patches. So I present to you today the unrated version of my blogging journey.

The idea to blog came at a time when I didn’t knew what the hell was blogging. I created one just for the heck of it. I couldn’t write on any fix topic so I thought to be a personal blogger. When I had started writing I started slowly writing the articles which I had cut through newspapers and all. I started using my blog as a scrap book. My very first article was the movie review of my sweetheart Katrina, Namastey London. After that it was all about my favourite,  Dil chahta hai. Putting up quite a number of write-ups for that, it came to be known as the Dil chahta hai blog. 

It continued over the years with 5- 6 posts coming a year. Things changed in 2013. I thought I need to publicise my blog and so began the hunt for blogging directories and I settled on one due to its simple and easy to understand interface. In the subsequent events, interacting with new friends which I made I learned a lot about blogging. I developed my own writing style – very detailed and very exhaustive. A turning point came up in September that year. On my visit to Kashmir, the moment I touched down I knew that I had to write about this heaven. There was so much that we didn’t knew about this place. After I got back, it took me non-stop 48 hours to compile the post from start to finish. Wrote in my observations and made sure that everybody in my network read that. My only aim - make aware people of the reality. I succeeded. 2 weeks after being published, a few of my friends went to visit that same place. Thus began the journey of my “travel” series. 

The next month I dived into poetry as I joined a new poetry group in Delhi. Wrote about them in Hindi, something which many bloggers think to be a tedious effort. This group made me start writing about poetry again. These guys encouraged me to write my heart out in verses, emotions, expressions. Their love, affection gave birth to poetry on my blog as well.

Three months later , I was watching a youtube video of a game where a group of soldiers are ambushed by terrorists. Outnumbered, death seems to be certain when help arrives. That gave me an idea to write about my first defence post “reinforcement”. I combined the prose style of poetry and simple emotions to come up with a few lines. The reaction was unexpected. The next day, while watching another video, the idea to write about "prisoner of war" came. As I couldn’t write it indirectly, I decided to pen it down in the first person perspective. I tried these experiments a few more times before I thought that it needs a name, a series.

I gave it the name “Heroes” after a Bollywood movie of the same name. While reading a book, a thought to write about the unknown soldiers of war led to the birth of the most famous “Param Veer Chakra”. It involved me getting in touch with the real life Indian Army veterans and army to make sure that this post carried the same level of honour and respect to the gallantry of the soldiers as the original medal stands for. I decided to do the impossible – get the Indian Army to authenticate that post. It took me a month to pull out all stops and achieve that. The thundering response made sure that this series has covered a lot of posts over the years. This was probably the one time when I was not writing about myself but for Indian soldiers to make sure that they did not fade into oblivion.

I’ve been really crazy. The current name came up when I realised that what I’m writing would soon one day become a memory. Even the template change took me three days to finalize. A lot of people have held my hand because when the heart pains, its impossible to write anything. Penning down the pain in the form of poetry is even tougher. What have you achieved you might ask?

Well the travel series helps a lot of people in knowing about places I have visited because no website would go into as much detail as I go .
Poetry has taught me to quietly write down all the pain which I cant share with anyone. 
Heroes has pushed me to write about the soldiers, bridging the gap between the soldiers and the public who remembers them only in times of its needs. Even if 2 people change their attitude towards them, my work is done. My circle knows the passion I have for each and every post of this series. Been a bit lucky to find a crazy girl who has become my collaborator in these posts of late. As i move to more tough topics, she handles the advanced emotions and we sort of work magic. 

Over the years from nothing to over 200 posts, I have covered a lot of subjects to write which I wouldn’t have thought initially. This journey is still going by what the heart is saying.. Even if I decide to stop the pen for myself, maybe i`ll continue Heroes because thats what all tell me.. " Keep writing for them".

What`s your story?...

Written for: What inspired you to start blogging ? How is your experience in this blogging world. What have you achieved through it.. #inspiredtoblog