Blogging | Confessions of a Disquisitive Writer

The Liebster Award

August 19, 2012 3 Comments

After a very busy day of wandering about in Delhi looking to buy the iPad, but returning empty handed (a very long story, more on that later), I was feeling very tired and just logged in to check my blog. And what do I see? A fellow blogger Wanton Creation (hereafter WC), whose blogs I really like, has nominated my blog for the Liebster Award. (See http://wantoncreation.wordpress.com/2012/08/18/the-liebster-award/)

‘The What Award?’

Well, really, I had no clue about what this means because I am only 2 weeks old on Blog-land and wrote only a handful of posts. Then I went through his detailed post and other posts linked with it and that’s when I understood what the Liebster Award basically means.

So, let me start off by saying a big THANK YOU, WC (I can’t figure out your actual name from your pages so I hope you don’t mind me calling you WC for now). It is very nice of you to nominate me and I hope I will do justice to your questions.

The Rules

So, here is how it works. The award is targeted for those bloggers who have less than 200 followers. I had 15 when I started writing this post and 16 when I finished, so I guess I qualified pretty nicely.

Moving on, the rules say that I must answer 11 questions put up by the award giver. Fair enough, I will do so below.

Next, the rules go on to say that I must, in turn, pick 11 people of my own choice for the award and pose 11 new questions to them as well. Now, that’s pretty interesting. I am also listing my list of 11 below and hopefully you, dear reader, will find them interesting as well.

But I liked the concept. I really did. It is a really nice way to introduce new bloggers like myself to the rest of the blogging community and give us some platform to talk about us and hopefully, a larger no. of bloggers will read what I have to say.

So, without further ado, here are my answers to questions put up to me, after which I will post my 11 nominations and their 11 questions:

Wanton Creation’s Questions (and my answers):

Q1. What’s your favourite word in the English language?
— My favourite word in English language is: “Sweetheart”. It just is.

Q2. What are you listening to as you write the answer to this question (if not music, what sounds)?
— I am listening to the slow hum of the air-conditioner in my room.

Q3. What was the last thing you ate that you really, really enjoyed?
— My mom cooked chicken curry at home and I went ballistic.

Q4. You’re at a job interview, and the interviewer asks you to make them laugh. What do you do or say?
— I would say, “Sorry Sir, but my doctor told me not to be myself today until I reach home.” And then I would look towards an imaginary figure behind him and wink.

Q5. The world is about to blow up, but you’re being saved, and are allowed to take five things to another planet (aside from the clothes you are currently wearing), where you and only 999 other people will now exist (ignore the bleakness of this question). What do you take?
— 1. My complete collection of Books.
(special mention: The book ‘Pale Blue Dot’ by Carl Sagan, so that I can remember my home planet when I miss it.)
— 2. My complete Photos Collection.
— 3. My iPod.
— 4. A Telescope.
— 5. My folder that contains all the Greeting Cards that I have ever been gifted.

Q6. What’s your favorite drink to consume first thing in the morning?
— Tea.

Q7. What was the last book to make you cry?
— Love Story by Erik Segal.

Q8. What’s the most ridiculous or silliest way you’ve been injured?
— I was reading a book and got a paper cut and it bled.

Q9. What’s your favourite city in the world? Why?
— My favourite city in the world has to be Paris. It’s just an awesome place to be if you are living there, or just visiting. There is absolutely so much to see and enjoy. Plus, I found people there to be partying really well in the few days that I stayed.

Q10. What’s the most embarrassing album in your music collection? (Be honest)
— Well, when I was a kid, I bought the album “Govinda” by an Indian actor turned one-time-singer of the same name. I basically did it because I was a big fan of the actor and I loved whatever work he did. In hindsight, I feel though he did make a serious effort of singing, the album was mostly crap.

Q11. To borrow an old line from a Crowded House song, would you rather a mansion in the slums or a caravan in the hills (i.e. a nice house in a not nice area, or a tiny living space but with views)?
— A caravan in the hills.

My list of 11 nominated blogs for Liebster Award:

My list of 11 questions to each of these award recipients:

Q1. What is your favourite book of all time?

Q2. Which is your favourite post from your own blog till date and why?

Q3. You’re meeting your girlfriend/boyfriend’s parents for the first time. What do you say or do to break the ice?

Q4. You are 100% free from work and other shackles for today. How would you like to spend your day? (in couple of sentences at most)

Q5. Have you ever read a book that challenged your intellect? Which one and how was it challenging?

Q6. Mention one of your obsessive compulsive habits that you’ve ever had. (like climbing stairs two steps at a time.. come on, everybody HAS something)

Q7. One thing that you have always been really good at.

Q8. One thing that you have always been really bad at.

Q9. What did you want to become when you were little and what have you become? Is it the same?

Q10. One thing that you would love to procrastinate forever, if it was so possible.

Q11. Favourite age at which you could go back and live it again.

I wish the nominees have a fun time trying to answer my 11 questions. I hope to see everyone’s response very soon.

Good Luck and Enjoy blogging….

Filed under Awards, Writing Tagged with Awards, Blogging, Books, Liebster, Liebster Award, Questions, Reading

Writing My First Blog

August 4, 2012 7 Comments

Dear Reader,

It is quite a difficult job, this writing a blog. I’ve been thinking about it for many weeks now, or maybe months, but I just never got down to actually doing it. And even when I did today, one of the foremost problems I faced was “what to write about?”

“Why do writers write? Because it isn’t there.” — Thomas Berger

How do I decide what to write about? I mean I am not a public figure whose opinion is greatly sought after. I am just the guy next door who, like everybody else, is just constantly trying to live and make sense of his life and writing is something that just lets one put thoughts on paper (ahem!!!).

Well, then that raises an important question: WHY do I want to blog? I don’t know but let’s explore. One reason might be that I think I have too many great ideas that are simply waiting to be harnessed. “Intellect of the 21^st century” and “The Bertrand Russell of 2012”. Once I unleash my mind, the world will never be the same again. History will once again be divided into two ages. Just like BC and AD, it will now be BS and AS. (Seriously?? BS??) Of course, Dear Reader, I am just kidding.

Another reason might be that I want to be able to write down my thoughts so it improves my ability to express myself. Add to this the fact that I am a ferocious and voracious reader myself, I know there is a pleasure in composing one’s own piece of original thought and posting it for others to read. Or as F. Scott Fitzgerald famously quoted:

“The reason one writes isn’t the fact he wants to say something. He writes because he has something to say.”

I, for some time, have been quite disappointed with myself over my inability to write anything at all. More than half a decade back, when I was still in college, I found it very easy to write down whatever I was thinking about. I just had to pick up a pen and paper and think about the first thing that came to mind and I would be able to write quite a bit. But as time passed and I completed my engineering and then started with my job, whatever writing I did was all technical. And that has gone on for so many years that I have almost forgotten what it used to be like to write down random thoughts. Now, that needs to change.

Well, well, enough of thinking about why. I am still not certain of WHAT I should actually write about. Should I write about myself, my feelings, my experiences in personal life, what I like and don’t like, what hurt me and what gave me pleasure? Nah.. I think netizens have too much already to browse and read up, who has the time to read about my issues with life?

Maybe, I should write about something happening in the world, maybe my observations of political, social or economic events? Maybe, highlight how I see some social practices and my opinion on what is just and what is unjust. Yes, I do have some opinions of my own.

Or should I write about some scientific literature I have read recently, or my interest in astronomy? Yes, I’ve read quite a few books on science in general and astronomy in particular. Maybe I should write about stuff I’ve read that has awed me and which a layman otherwise never gets to find out in detail? For instance, how many people actually know that the Voyager 1 spacecraft that was launched by NASA is already moving out of the Solar System beyond Pluto and is currently in the Heliosheath? Sounds like a simple technicality but it means a lot for humanity as an achievement. More on that in another blog.

Coming back to the WHAT, I also absolutely love some particular writers like P.G. Wodehouse, Carl Sagan, Christopher Hitchens, Bertrand Russell, Stephen Fry and even Sir Arthur Conan Doyle of the Sherlock Holmes fame. And I think that the works of each one of these writers have been revolutionary in their own ways. So maybe I should blog about what I like about their works. Yes, that too sounds like a good idea.

However, my Dear and Patient Reader, I now do feel that it may even just be random thoughts on topics such as this blog itself. But I hope that would not be too boring for you, because I guess it won’t be too boring for me myself in the first place. After all, writing is the best way to talk without being interrupted.

Thanks for listening.