The Gift of Music!

I remember it was Nitin's 16th birthday and he asked me to gift him wireless headphones. I searched everywhere for it, but couldn't find a single shop in Bhopal selling wireless headphones. It was the first time when my grandson asked me for anything and I couldn't manage to get him what he asked me for. It was in early 2000's and I had no idea about the trends and what technology was there in the market. In my time, I used to listen to transistors or cassette tapes. Maybe, that was the reason for lack of market knowledge.

Me and Nitin
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Nitin listening to music on Radha's headphones
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My grandson Nitin came to know about wireless headphones from one of my friend's grand daughter 'Radha', who visited us in Bhopal just a month before Nitin's 16th birthday. She did her graduation from USA and bought the headphones from there. Radha stayed with us for a week and as she knew Nitin had great interest in music, so she lended her headphones to Nitin. Nitin has always been a shy boy who had very few friends and most of the time he used to spend on studies. When I gifted him the wired headphone, he didn't show disappointment and accepted the gift with great happiness. Though he was happy, I knew he wanted something different and far superior and magical than what I presented him with. It wasn't a time when e-commerce sites entered into the Indian market. It was more of a time when we used to ask our friends to send us the branded products from bigger cities like Mumbai, Delhi, Kolkata etc.

Time to plan a surprise
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Years went by and many things have changed since those days. I've grown old and my Grandson is a working professional now. He plays guitar well and still have a thing for music. He is the lead guitarist of his office rock band and loves to play rock, but his real love lies in soft music. I always listen to his compositions, whenever he visits me. His music fills great joy in my unhealthy and an old little heart. His 28th birthday is just round the corner and am planning to give him a surprise. What I couldn't do 12 years ago, I want to do it now. I want to make my grandson happy by presenting him with the gift which I promised him 12 years ago but couldn't manage to. I know it's a bit late, but I want to make sure that the gift is worth the wait. Since, I'm just a normal Grand Father and doesn't possess super powers of a computer expert, I mostly refrain myself to take advice from the right person over phone or in person. And I couldn't have asked for a better person than Radha to take help from; who introduced Nitin to wireless headphones. Radha like a wonderfully kind hearted person first gave me the overview of some of the best options available in the market and then helped me with the selection.

BOSE Showroom
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Since, we wanted to choose the best wireless headphones, we didn't go in depth of the search and chose 'BOSE'. Bose being a premium brand of audio equipment, not only offers great value but also offers 'Trust' associated with its name for decades now. When Radha asked me to check the BOSE Quiet comfort 35 wireless headphones II, she suggested me to visit the Bose showroom and experience the magic of sound. Though I had no clue about the technology and specs of the product, I trusted what Radha told me and visited the nearest Bose showroom. Thereafter, what happened at the showroom can't be explained here in words as it was a musical experience, a mesmerizing one! It was beyond my imagination because I wasn't expecting it to be so unreal. How can there be no sound heard other than the music, even when I'm passing by crowded street? How can a person talk and even send and receive text messages through a headphone? Also, how can a person say 'No' to features like Bluetooth and Google Assistant? When I experienced all these features in the BOSE QC35 headphone, there was nothing left in there to contemplate more about. I bought the Silver colored BOSE Quiet comfort 35 wireless headphones II and get it packed.

Finally, I bought the BOSE headphones for Nitin
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Nitin had no idea that what surprise was in store for his 28th birthday. As soon as he blew the candles and cut the cake, I gave him what he asked me 12 years ago. Tears of joy coursed down his cheeks and he hugged me tightly and said "You remembered it Dadu!" and I hugged him back and said "How could I not!".

Big Bear Hug!
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Check Out BOSE Quiet comfort 35 wireless headphones II to know more about the new Headphones from BOSE.

 

 

Jab we met at #BNLF...

First things first, this is my 100th blog post and I'm super glad that I've finally achieved the 3-figure mark, at-least somewhere other than book cricket (Ahh..I miss my childhood!). Now on a serious note, I'm grateful to all the people who inspired me throughout my blogging journey. I'm glad that I made some wonderful friends in the blogosphere and it's one place where I always feel dreamy because the readers are not biased and they understand and appreciate your qualities and criticize your shortcomings in a subtle way. Thanks to you all! :)

There are times when you feel thankful for things that you did correct in your life. Joining the blogging community, i.e. Indiblogger was one such decision that I took after contemplating for long and that has to go down as one of the wisest decisions that I ever made.  I hardly considered myself a blogger until I met some inspiring personalities on Indiblogger platform who started their journey just like I did. It was pretty inspiring indeed! And after hearing so much about the community and especially Indiblogger events/meet-ups, saying 'No' to it was never an option. I learned from people who shared their past experiences in the most insightful and interesting manner possible.

I attended my first Indi meet in February this year in Mumbai and O boy, it was one amazing experience! I don't know that when I'm going to attend the same in my city, Pune (as it seems the city is disowned by Indi team like a long lost child. Grrrr!). But I was still very excited to attend the events wherever and whenever possible. #BNLF came into picture with a grand announcement from the Indi team in the month of July. Blog Now Live Forever, a grand Meet-up of Indian Bloggers was first held at Mumbai (See, Indiblogger's affection for the 'Sapno ka sheher') in 2015. Since then, no other chapter was planned or executed until this year, in the month of November. It was held in Dehradun. Around 70-80 bloggers came from different corners of the country. Such was the zeal and passion! Bloggers developed a relationship with Indiblogger and among themselves over the years. For people who find it difficult to engage and interact with complete strangers, it's always a tough job, but when you meet like minded people it often becomes easy to make strong bonds. And the main motto of the meet-up was to connect and make friends from the virtual world.

 

A few days before the meet-up, some of the bloggers whom I knew were coming to the event had connected over the Watsapp group for planning what all to do in Doon for 2 days. The feel of #BNLF was well settled in after the Diwali vacations. We all were discussing places to roam around in Doon and also what to eat and where to shop etc. It was like a trip that I was planning with my school/college buddies, but here the case was pretty different. Most of us were meeting for the very first time and had never spoken on the phone either. But the excitement was on another level! I started from Pune late at night around 1am and reached Delhi at 3am. My train from Delhi to Dehradun was at 6am in the morning. So, I took some rest at the Delhi airport and boarded the first metro at 4:30am to New Delhi station. It was my first Metro ride! I met a few friends from our Watsapp group at the station itself. We were traveling together but in different coaches. Later, we found out that even the Indiblogger team was in the same train. We reached Dehradun at 2 pm and registration for BNLF was scheduled to start at 5:30 pm. The excitement was on such level that even after a tiring ride; most of us reached the venue i.e. 'Hotel Madhuban' at 5pm.

Though the registration didn't start on time, we all had a sorted agenda in mind to meet bloggers and get ourselves comfortable. I met a lot of bloggers whose blogs I read and have always admired their work. Also, when bloggers are around, you can never feel bored because everyone makes sense and talk sensibly. Even the age difference never appears to be a hurdle to interact with someone. It's like an ocean where you can reach out to anyone and have a nice little chat.

After the registration, it was time for a musical evening with Bobby Cash where he played the guitar and sang some beautiful English and Hindi songs. As soon as we finished the dinner, next on the agenda was to gather in a common hall for introductions and interaction. Anoop 'Breaker of Ice' (like Khaleesi 'Breaker of Chains') broke the ice in his usual witty style and made the atmosphere lively. For Indiblogger and us as its part, the camaraderie is what matters the most to each other. The love and warmth with which the Indi team treats each blogger is something beyond extraordinary. A lot was said during the event and people were criticized, but the Indi team dealt with everything in such Great Spirit that it left us in awe for their kindness. As soon as the introductions were finished, we left for our respective hotel rooms.

Next day, we started at 6:30 am from our hotels to reach the venue for the next thing on agenda i.e. 'The Ruskin Bond Walk'. Whenever we talk about Dehradun, one name that flashes out straight in the mind is of Sir Ruskin Bond. Ruskin Bond lived in Dehradun for a good period and had mentioned a lot about his childhood memories of Dehradun and related stories in his books. Indiblogger organized a walk for the bloggers with the 'Been There, Doon That' group that guided us to some of the places where Ruskin Bond have spent his childhood days.

After a refreshing early morning walk on the streets of Doon, we joined the Indiblogger team at Bikanerwala for Brunch. O God! We bloggers were hungry! Damn hungry by then! We all ordered almost everything mentioned on the menu to fill our tummies. After the sumptuous meal, we all had free time till evening to explore Dehradun. Our WA group had already planned the itinerary well in advance.

First place on our agenda was to visit the FRI (Forest Reasearch Institute) where many movies are shot. The architecture and unique museum were the highlights of the place. The British Architecture was quite significant and attractive. Because of the time crunch, we skipped a few museum galleries and headed to Mindrolling Monastery.

I had already visited a few monasteries in Gangtok and Darjeeling before, but Mindrolling monastery was quite different than other monasteries. The huge architecture and a picturesque forest in backdrop with Prayer Wheels and Stupa is a perfect location for filming a Bollywood/Hollywood scene. We spent some time at the monastery and had the famous Momo's of Dehradun in lunch. The next and final destination in our day's itinerary was Paltan Bazar for shopping. The bazaar was so crowded as if the whole Dehradun wanted to meet and greet us; instead they chose to push us. After a brief halt at Paltan, we left for our hotels to get freshened up for the evening event.

The #BNLF night officially started, but since there wasn't any set agenda on the chart, we chose to continue with all the networking and chit-chatting with friends we met a night before. Every single person was busy interacting with others and discussing about blogging, personal life, sports, politics and blah blah...It was nothing short of a college farewell setup where people were reminiscing about their good and not-so great days. When people were having serious discussions, I planned to skip the 'Bade logon ki baatein' and preferred to click people around.

As soon as we finished our dinner, we were asked to join other bloggers and Indi team to a hall inside the hotel. The event finally started with an intro to how Indiblogger and BNLF came into existence. A community that has more than 40k bloggers and the number is growing with each passing day. How the idea of building such a community was born and how the Indiblogger team made it BIG? All these facts were shared with the Indi Tribe. Soon after the Introduction, we were engaged in blogging-centric debate and some fun activities. We didn't even notice that when the time had passed and the event came to an end. It was already 2am and everyone was awake. After an enthralling two days in Doon, it was time to bid adieu to everyone. Though we had to leave the memories of those two days had imprinted in our hearts for a lifetime.

Source: Indiblogger

I never thought of making so many wonderful friends and memories for a lifetime; it all actually came as a bonus. Also, the experience of meeting new people and sharing great insights about blogging, life and work filled me with positivity. I will cherish all the memories of this trip forever!

Make your Dream a Reality! #TATA99HomesFestival

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Home is where a person build dreams and make memories for a lifetime. There comes a time in every person’s life when a dream house is what one saves money for and a key milestone that makes you chase it. With cities growing day by day and crowd creeping in slowly; people often find it difficult to accept a rented home as their own. For working professionals there is only one thing that provide respite from the hustle and bustle of the city is when they reach their home and take a sound sleep under their own roof. It is that relaxing moment one lives for and create wonderful memories around to cherish later in life.

Now, the main question arises here is why it’s so hard these days to own a house in a well located area in the city? There is no specific answer to this question as the real estate market has no set standard in terms of value and trust. Trust is something that builds the reputation and keeps your faith alive. Buying a home is one of the toughest and most important decisions of life that a person takes. Being a working professional myself, I always look for options that gives me belief and shouldn’t impact much on pocket. In India, when it comes to ‘Trust’ there is one brand that is the most trusted in all sectors i.e. Tata. A Tata product comes with a standard and trust value that people often relate to easily. And what’s better when TATA offers something for those who want to build their home around a trusted brand. When I heard of TATA Value Homes,  the first thought that struck my mind was that it must be something really impressive as we don’t associate TATA with anything fishy. Also, the offerings adds up to customer satisfaction and a win-win situation for everyone. TATA Value Homes is offering unique options to customers with impressive budget friendly deals. All necessary and highly advanced amenities at jaw dropping prices is also a reason that makes it a really good option for genuine customers. People who really want to invest in or buy a house to fulfill their distant dream, this is surely one of the best and affordable offers to consider. Apart from its customer friendly options there is a unique ’99 Homes Festival’ which TATA is offering for a limited period. 

La Montana- TVH's Pune Project

‘99 Homes Festival’ comes with
99 Homes For

99 Hours With

99% Funding. And all this comes with great discounts; up to 19 Lakhs* (yes you heard it right) that vary from projects to projects across India. 

To learn more about #TATA99HomesFestival and their  properties and locations, one can visit and register on TATA Value Homes

The period to avail this exciting offer i.e. #TATA99HomesFestival is until 1^st, November. Bookings will begin from 2^nd, November.

TATA Value Homes is not only changing the landscape in the real estate sector but also changing lives of people by giving them the opportunity to buy a dream home for themselves. For a working professional like me, TATA not only gives a satisfaction but also assures that your dream is safe with them. 

A Beacon of Hope!

Painting By: Ayushi Jain

How many times does it happen that you look for something good in the world and people shatter your hopes and destroy the meaning of humanity?


I don't write on social issues usually but an incident that happened a day ago when I was traveling to Bhopal from Pune by Jhelum express, shocked me to the core. No, I was not the victim but it happened right in front of me. A girl who was in the berth next to me was harassed and photographed without any consent. It all started when we boarded the train from Pune.


What I like most about train journeys is that how we develop a skill to interact with complete strangers and also sometimes end up making lifelong friends. I didn't know that my perception about train journeys would ever change before taking this trip. It always takes time for me to initiate conversation with strangers and to get comfortable with fellow passengers. I was traveling to my hometown i.e. Bhopal. A girl on the opposite berth, who was traveling alone for the first time to her hometown Jhansi had no idea that someone was staring her. Since it was a long journey we started the conversation to kill time. One of the guys sitting on side lower berth joined our conversation and started talking nonsense. Well, I really don't want to disregard anyone here but that person was from the army and posted in Ladakh. We didn't want to interact with him because he was using false language and that too in front of kids and women. After some time he was joined with one of his batch mates and then left their seat for a while. Since the girl was from IT background, we had common interests to share our work-related experiences. Suddenly the friend of the guy appeared again and started interacting with us.He seemed to be a better person. Still, there were no signs of anything fishy that was about to happen in few minutes.


A family who was traveling to Delhi boarded from Ahmadnagar. They had 4 seats in our compartment. As soon as everyone got settled, one boy from the family noticed that the same person who was interacting with us before was clicking pictures of the girl and he conveyed the message to her. She asked me to check and confirm whether it was really happening or it was just a confusion. In just a split second after that, she saw her picture on his mobile thru the reflection in the window. She stood up and grabbed that person's mobile and there we noticed that he clicked many of her pictures and even shot a video. The girl was stunned and so was other people in the compartment. We decided to take this case further and to teach that deplorable person a lesson.


It was 9 pm already and TT was also no way near our bogie. Since I had seen some of the cases resolved over twitter by Indian rail ministry. I thought of dropping a tweet stating the train and passenger details to Indian rail ministry and to the rail minister himself. Within few minutes I received a response from the Indian rail ministry account and then later followed up by different regional DRM office and RPF team. It all happened in just a few minutes after sharing the tweet. As soon as we reached the next station i.e. kopargaon. Two RPF officers came and noted her complaint. Since, we already crossed a different DRM circle, on next station the complaint was transferred to the Bhusawal RPF team. They noted the complaint and then asked the girl if she wants to file a registered complaint? She was ready to take action against the guy but she was told that she might need to come to the police station or court to take this case ahead. Meanwhile, that guy pleaded guilty (in public) and was begging for mercy. She was traveling alone and didn't want to spoil a soldier's career/life. Hence, she decided to take the complaint back. The guy was shifted to a different bogie later on.

Kindly look into this matter @rpfcr @Drmmumbaicr

— Ministry of Railways (@RailMinIndia) September 23, 2017

sorry for inconvenience matter forwarded to concern staff

— DRMBSL (@BhusavalDivn) September 23, 2017

kindly share your PNR to assist properly, matter fwd to @rpfcrsur

— DRM Solapur (@DrmSolapur) September 23, 2017

Sir please kindly share ur mobile no.

— rpfsur (@rpfcrsur) September 23, 2017

उक्त ट्रेन को MMR स्टेशन पर RPF तथा GRP स्टाफ द्वारा अटेंड कर आवश्यक कार्यवाही हेतु अवगत कराया गया है |

— rpf bhusawal (@rpfcrbsl) September 23, 2017

उक्त ट्रेन को MMR स्टेशन पर RPF तथा GRP स्टाफ द्वारा अटेंड किया गया | बाद महिला यात्री ने बताया की जो परेशान कर रहा था.......

— rpf bhusawal (@rpfcrbsl) September 23, 2017

उसने माफी मांग ली है | तथा अभी मेरी कोई शिकायत नहीं है बताया |

— rpf bhusawal (@rpfcrbsl) September 23, 2017

What I felt that she stood up against the monster rather bravely and didn't give up till the last. It was only the circumstances and her kindness that made her take the decision of leaving that guy. Though I didn't want to mention it but he was an army officer. We all respect our army men and one person cannot spoil the image of those who fight for us on the border and give us the reason to live our life rather peacefully.

Social media has gone to a different level now. I never experienced that in person before but this incident made me believe in digital revolution. Twitter is proving to be a revolution when it comes to approaching the government bodies for help. I hope this will lead to a better India in future. Also, one must always take a stand against people who take advantage of others. There is humanity still left in the world. I experienced it when everyone stood up for the brave girl and defended her. We need more such people to take this torch of humanity further in the generations to come. Hopefully, one day this world will become a better place to live.

Knock knock! Santa is here! :)

I came home from work quite late yesterday and found an amazon package on my bed which I didn't order. Well, there is no-one on earth who doesn't like surprises but when there is no occasion around and especially your B'day is also not near then it becomes even more exciting to open gifts. I had no idea that who sent me the package but like kids I opened it with great curiosity and glittery eyes. There was nothing mentioned on the front side of the invoice either, that who ordered it. I don't get gifts often so I thought it would be ordered by someone for one of my flat mates, also my college buddies (as sometimes we order things online on each others' name as per our availability at home). But I was wrong, totally wrong! As soon as I unpacked the package, I found this....

And somehow I knew that this gift was intended for me,not to my friends. I knew that none of my friends had the habit of sending gifts and that too a photography related gift.Ahhh! Never! To be honest, more than the gift, what I really loved about it was that it was a book and related to photography. I just cannot express how happy it made me last night, after a hectic day at office. Extremely happy! :)

Well, I searched for the sender's name inside out of the package and after spending some time, I found it on the back side of the invoice.And as soon as I read the name, it brought a big smile on my face. The sender was Jaibala a.k.a. Jai, a very experienced and lovable blogger and one of my favorites. Also, it came through Blogchatter's Secret Santa initiative, in which many of the wonderful bloggers enrolled with Blogchatter to send a gift on the occasion of Christmas to the person randomly selected by Blogchatter's algorithm (I believe). ;)

I never met Jai in person and we had only interacted thru comments on blog posts and twitter. Also, I didn't mention any preference of gift on the Blogchatter's link. And when I saw the book, it was actually a big surprise for me that how Jai figured it out on her own that I have a thing for photography. I believe, she noticed my love for photography in my blog posts during blog hopping and chose this wonderful gift for me. Well, her comments on my blog posts weighs more than any physical gifts and this book was a cherry on the cake. 

I can't thank you enough for this lovely gift, Jai (Beautiful Santa)! Hope we meet soon. And loads of love to S and you! :)

Wish you merry Christmas and a very Happy New Year in advance!

It's not any game, it is Cricket!

India vs England | Test Series, 2012 |  Eden Gardens | Kolkata (WB)

It's been a few days since I was thinking of a topic to write on and during the first test between India and England, I got one, when I interacted with some of my friends over twitter discussing our team's performance and strategies. Well, I am not a cricket expert but I can call myself a cricket enthusiast for sure. I like cricket a lot like every other Indian. Also, in the country where cricket is being treated as a religion; everyone holds a viewpoint about our team and players. I won't say it's wrong to hold an opinion about cricket and especially about players when they fail to deliver or perform as champions. But there is a huge difference in the way we react when our team win or lose. We often see that most of the public in India builds a negative image in their mind whenever our team's performance is bad and sometimes it really hurts when we hear unpleasant things about our players from hatemongers, who know nothing about cricket.Well, its a controversial and a debatable topic any day, if properly presented on any platform. Also, I will not dig much into this as my primary motive of writing this post is to talk about just cricket not about outsiders.


Let's start with the ongoing test series between India and England. The first test resulted in a draw and all the speculations which were being made before the series that the new England side is not that strong as it was in 2012; proved everyone wrong. After drawing the series against Bangladesh, England looked a shattered side who had a big series coming up against the no. 1 test team in the world. Also, the way Indian team was performing in their backyard from past 5-6 months, the signs were ominous for the mighty Englishmen. But every speculation made just before the series came to rest when England dominated in more than 10 sessions of the game. The stakes were high for both teams and somehow India saved the match on the last day. On the other hand, England missed the chance to bag a win in their account.Now, what happened with the no. 1 test team? or was it just that the England team outclassed us? Let's try to dig in and find out what went wrong.

1) In India, it's often a saying that toss plays a major role in deciding the winner of the game. And if you've have 3 genuine spinners in the side then it becomes even more important to bowl second. Well, nobody can predict the toss results, it's just a saying which sometimes falls in favor of the winning captain and sometimes not. But it does play a part in some or the other manner! And we witnessed that in first test match (3rd session- 5th day), when Indian batting line-up stumbled against the mediocre spin attack of England team. Only Kohli and Ashwin looked a bit settled on the 5th day track.And this actually revealed few things that playing spin in spinner friendly conditions requires patience and technique.The greats of Indian cricket were magnificent players of spin bowling and this new set of energetic individuals just need to polish this trait and become the best in the business.

2) We all know that Indian team is a very good fielding unit but somehow they dropped a lot of chances in the first innings itself that made things difficult for the bowlers. They were not difficult chances and some of them were even sitters. Also, it's a very well known fact that "catches win matches" and a team just can't afford to drop catches when the batsmen are of great calibre. The same happened when India dropped around 8-9 catches in the first innings and a few in the second innings. Indian team couldn't build pressure on the English team which resulted in a massive total in the first innings.

3) India hasn't seen a better bowler after Anil Kumble who can remove the tail cheaply. Bowling to tail-enders requires a completely different set of skills and in today's cricket, no country has the fire power in their bowling line-up to crack that. Fast bowlers have forgotten the art of bowling yorkers and conventional reverse swing and the spinners have now-a-days forgotten the art of bowling flighted deliveries to intimidate the tail-enders to make mistakes. The same sort of thing happened in first test match as well. Both teams couldn't manage to get the tail removed quickly and a lot of runs were scored by the lower order batsmen.

4) Opening partnership didn't click again,which raised a concern in the batting department for upcoming matches, as already Shikhar Dhawan and Lokesh Rahul are both injured and Gautam Gambhir is not looking as solid as he used to be a few years back. Hopefully, Gambhir will put a better show in next game because we all know that he's a class player when he's on song.

5) Well, this is purely my personal view that this side relies a lot on 3-4 players, who have been doing magnificently well from past 1-2 years. Batting line-up is still delivering but there are very less instances which we can count when all the batsmen clicked together in a single game. Same goes with the bowling line-up, if we're playing in India then we rely a lot on our two mainline spinners. Whereas, outside it's more or less a single man who holds the key of the spin department i.e. Ashwin. The pacers are not fixed in the line-up except Shami, who has performed brilliantly in India and outside.Also, Bhuvi has performed equally well in foreign conditions. I believe the true test of Kohli's captaincy starts now from this series where he needs to build his team and make it a true champion side to fight against the bests in the world.

I have tried to cover all the aspects of the game (from my point of view) except pitches, because it's that area which can only be assessed better by the cricket experts or players.

I would love to know about your view for the ongoing test series between India and England. So, go ahead and drop a comment with your inputs.

Thanks for stopping by and reading the post! :)

I am a Blogbuddy with BlogChatter.

We are Writeaholics...

Blogging is something I adore a lot! Though I wasn't an active blogger 6 months ago, things have changed now and I write and post quite often. Well, some things surely takes time to get in shape and my blogging journey got back on track with new beginnings and surprises. I wasn't active on twitter either and one day I just thought of dropping by to check my account if there was anything interesting. Luckily, I came across this amazing community named "BlogChatter". I followed them on twitter and started taking part in their Wednesday chat sessions. Slowly, I started building my blog with BlogChatter's campaigns and connected with some extraordinary like minded bloggers.

I started blogging in 2011 and used to post only poems and articles. My blog was like a diary to me earlier but in last one year it became an inspiration to do something worthy in life. Also, it has become a platform for me to make friends and connect with Intellectuals to learn from and get better to reach the pinnacle of my life's goals! And all this has not happened in just few days or thru self-efficacy; rather this has only happened because of a community i.e. BlogChatter. A community who believes in building relationships and motivates the bloggers in finding their niche. In order to achieve all this, Blogchatter conducts several campaigns from time to time.And one of those campaigns is "Blogbuddy", the flagship program of BlogChatter. This is the third season of Blogbuddy and my first as a participant. The main objective of this program is to build a tribe of small groups and make them grow together as a team. For Blogbuddy 3.0, the groups are formed in a batch of 7-8 bloggers each. I, too, am a part of 7 member team.

And till next season, seven of us are going to take on the challenge of blogging as a team.

So, let me introduce you to the members (superstars) of team #Writeaholics.

Anindya - The person behind Pikturenama! He's a senior blogger and wonderful photographer who creates magic thru his food photography. He's also a traveler and have amazing travel stories in travel section of his blog. Hope we form a great bond in this journey of Blogbuddy. Kudos! :)
 

Shinjini - She's one of the most versatile bloggers I have ever come across. From Art related to Tarot card reading and from Travel related blog posts to Entrepreneurship. She's everywhere! Hope I learn to manage my blog like hers and may we build this friendship stronger. Kudos! :)

Menaka - She's a wonderful person by heart and the lady behind SimpleIndianMom! If I start writing about her bio then am sure I cannot complete that in a single page. She's an Agricultural biologist, Lifestyle blogger, Parenting consultant and a big-big Organic food enthusiast. Huff! She has super powers! Please hop over to her blog and explore more about her. Kudos! :)

Dixita - She's a star in the galaxy of Blogchatter. Her positive attitude and enthusiasm are two things which I like the most. Hop over to her blog to read some amazing stories. Also, she's a very good DJ and possess excellent knowledge of old and new Bollywood songs. Kudos! :)

Anshul - He's a doctor by profession and a blogger by heart.Well, we both hail from the city of lakes i.e. Bhopal, Madhya Pradesh. It's great that we both are in same team #Writeaholics. Hope we rock together and make this blogbuddy season a memorable one. Also, he's an avid reader and shares some exciting posts on his blog. So, hop over to his blog and read some amazing articles. Kudos! :)

Manisha - She's a Pharma and Healthcare consultant by profession and a blogger by passion.Her blog zarahatke is a collection of fashion & beauty tips, poetry and life experiences related posts. Her hindi poetry is really good. So, please hop over to her blog to explore more about her. Kudos! :)

I am super thrilled and excited about what's there in store for us in coming months. I'm sure, together we are going to make this Blogbuddy season a memorable one. :)



I am a Blogbuddy with Blogchatter.

Days of #HalfMarathon #BlogChatter..

BlogChatter Half Marathon:
 
So, this is my last post for Blogchatter’s Half Marathon campaign. It’s been 15 days, since we bloggers who joined this campaign are posting poems, articles, photos, reviews etc. daily. Blogchatter started this Blogging Marathon campaign on 15th July, 2016 and since then we are posting our blog posts on #DailyChatter links. Around 55 bloggers enrolled for this campaign.

My Journey:

I connected with Blogchatter in 1st week of July thru Twitter. Later, I took part in Blogchatter’s Wednesday chat sessions, and from there I got this information about half marathon. Since I was new to this group and wanted to connect with my fellow bloggers, I took the challenge and enrolled for the campaign. In past 15 days, I wrote and published almost every kind of blog post; poems, articles, travel posts, book review and photo blog. On very first day of the half marathon, I planned to pick a single genre for my posts for the next 15 days, but I wasn’t that good in any particular genre to continue this challenge for 15 consecutive days. Then I dropped the idea of planning and writing stuff in advance. I just let myself free to write anything, without thinking much about the genre.
 
Everyone from the Blogchatter blogging community participated in this campaign enthusiastically. I found so many wonderful bloggers here in Half Marathon, who made this event a huge success. I learnt a lot from all of them. Some of the bloggers with whom I interacted thru comments and twitter posts, were so good in their own blogging world, that when I received feedback from them, it actually helped me enormously in building my blog. Before taking this challenge, At times, I actually wondered !! If I could complete it or not !?!? But, when I noticed that how other bloggers were keeping their calm and posting some amazing stuff, it infused determination in me to complete the task.

 
My Experience with bloggers:

I followed almost every blog post in the past 15 days, and tried to drop a comment as well. And trust me, I found so many amazing bloggers with such beautiful posts, that most of the times it felt like from where these people get so many ideas and how creative they are? Some are born poets, some are story tellers, some are story makers, some are artists and some are exceptional reviewers !!! They mastered the art of creating unbelievable stories.


Thank you note:

I hope Blogchatter will organize more campaigns like this, and for this campaign I bow before you! It’s only because of you “Blogchatter”, that I met with extra ordinary bloggers and connected with them over twitter and other platforms. I also want to thank every single blogger who took part in this Half marathon and posted some enchanting blog posts. And special thanks to those who took interest in my blog posts and gave their valuable feedback, every single time. :)
 
Here it is.. A small token of love for #Blogchatter from all the bloggers :D :D