A blogger's best friend..

Thats what my blog has become in 6 years to me. Thats right, today is exactly 6 years since I started writing my blog. That certainly means that there have been atleast 6 posts including this one, talking about how much my blog has come to mean to me. Good excuse to write a post at the least :-D.

Seriously though, I cannot believe that I'm still writing. I mean, ideally I did think and do think that I will be writing all my life, but the situations in life don't really give you that kind of a comfort level or that kind of a time. I've seen blogs and the associated bloggers disappear without a word suddenly because of life pressures and I don't really blame them. When I had Snugli, there were many points in time when I did wonder whether I was 'neglecting' her by dedicating a bit of time to my activities (especially blogging). But there's my duties as a mother to her, as a wife to my husband, as a daughter to my parents and then there is a duty to myself. To do the things I love to do :).

And I do love to write. The posts have been slow for the past couple of months, due to the little one that I'm carrying. Call it fatigue or maybe laziness, but to be honest, I don't mean to give up on the blog yet. Have no idea how tough it'll be after the delivery, but right now, I plan to make some time somehow :). So hopefully there will be a post next year celebrating the 7th birthday of the blog if it goes as well as it is going right now. And to add, I don't really have that many commentators pestering me to write, so that must prove that this is purely for myself and few of my family/friends who are regular visitors :).

Another hindrance to blogging is the evolution of day-to-day social networks like twitter and facebook. I'm still not on twitter, thank God (cannot afford to update yet another one), but I am on facebook and I have to admit that its easier to put up daily thoughts there, than create a post for it on the blog. Obviously there is no detail-oriented stuff as it is here in this blog, but its good for a quick quote or a quick link pointing to a news I thought was interesting. Yet for me personally, that can never take the place of this blog - even though for some people apparently it does. I have seen people update 10-20 status messages per day, upload irritating photos of what they cook daily or see daily or do every second of every minute of every hour of every day and people updating the damn thing when they are attending weddings (right now while attending someone else's wedding, but I'm sure the day will come when they'll be updating during their own as well :-p), or watching cricket or doing anything. And everytime I see this I feel like shouting at them to stop and to enjoy what's happening in actuality rather than striving to keep strangers "updated" (sadly some even consider strangers as very good friends :-p). But oh well, its their life, their choices.

Anyways, a very happy 6th birthday to my beloved blog. Hope you continue to exist as long as I do :).

The good twin ;-).

As I mentioned earlier, its the 5th birthday of my blog today :). And the gift is that I now have a copy of my blog (albeit private) on wordpress. Am yet to figure out how to setup the same theme and push all the photo-dependency from blogger to there. But one step at a time. Right now its a private blog, but if ever something happens to this blog here again, I'll take off and create the full fledged version there.

I said before that I was shocked to see all my posts gone. It was more than that, it was as if a part of me was torn apart. This shows you how much this blog has come to mean to me. I even declared that if I didn't recover the posts, I'd never blog again. But here I am :). I am so glad that all is well with my blog again (but that 1 post is still missing and google developers are yet to get back).

5 years. So many things have happened. Changes have come but some things have remained the same. My blog has become a companion whom I cannot afford to lose. Its not that I don't have any secrets from my blog, there are many things I don't write about here (there's still a part of me thats private and personal ;-) :-D). But for the most part, my blog is a reflection of my life. Its a day to day mirror, but remember even mirrors don't really show the true self of the person ;-) (the reflection is inverted duh!). Maybe there'll come a time when I'll open up more. Or maybe I'll become more close-mouthed about stuff (as if!). But what I do know is that I am going to be blogging for a long time.

Happy birthday blog, and here's to many more shared memories together :).

Great blogs of fire!

Recently I updated my blog roll. Had an external tool for it all this while. Its been sometime since Blogger came up with its own widget, but well, it always felt a bit too tedious to again add all those blogs from the beginning. But I have been wanting to do it for quite a while and once I decided to do it, I was done in half an hour. But thats not really what I want to talk about. As I entered the URLs of all those blogs, I noticed how many have been idle, how many haven't been updated for a long, long time. And it somehow made me sad :(.

I know I haven't been reading all the blogs. But it somehow feels like friends are slowly becoming busier and busier until they don't have any time for you at all. And I don't know most of these people. But it felt like we were fellow travelers on the same train or something. They were constant companions of mine whenever I needed them. The worse thing is that all these days they have been gone and I haven't even noticed! Guess I got "busy" too. But if you are still reading my blog (I know atleast a couple of friends are), I promise I'll pop in more often if you just return to writing a couple of sentences once in a while :). I did notice that one of them is back for now, which is wonderful.

All these make me more glad that somehow I have never given up blogging. 4 years ago, I started this blog as a possibility, a place to put in my thoughts and maybe a place that will help me sort out things. And it has been that and more. Its been 4 years of growing up with the blog and coming to terms with responsibilities. I know that even if I am busy, even if I have a 100 things to do. I'll somehow make the time, put the effort to type in a few words now and then. I don't ever want to give up. I'll always return and hopefully always have something to say.

Happy birthday dear blog :). Hope you have a wonderful year full of many memorable posts ahead :).

Teesri manzil!

When I first made you, you were tiny:



Then you grew up a bit:



Today you are 3 years old and I can't believe you have grown to what you are :).



Happy birthday blog! Hope you have a great day and a wonderful year ahead ;-) :).

And then there were three..

Today's post is special. Two reasons. One, this is the 200th post :). Two, today is our 3rd wedding anniversary :).

First the blog (not that its more important, just to get that out of the way ;-) :-D). 200 seems unbelievable. I know I don't write that frequently. I am certainly not one of those who update their blog daily. But I have made it a point to put up a post atleast once every 4-5 days. These days, even that is getting difficult. One reason is that the ideas all are scattered and I don't really get the time to group them together. And then even if I somehow manage that, I never have the time to type a big post. And to think, big posts used to be my specialities :-D. But nevertheless, I'm glad I have this space to vent out whatever I am feeling at that particular moment. I'm glad that my parents read it and I get ample (actually more than ample :-D) feedback. I'm glad that I have written for so long and hope to continue for as long as possible :).

Coming to the anniversary, I know I have always said that I didn't know how it'd be after I got married. But this time its different. Three years ago if you had asked me, what I expected after 3 years of marriage, this is exactly what I'd have predicted :). We wanted to have a baby after 2 years and at the third year be proud parents. And we have Snigdha :). She's simply a joy to be around. She is now about 1.5 months old and smiles/laughs unexpectedly now and then..




She gets startled at sounds and stares intently at faces..




She watches anything that moves (includes people moving from here to there) and its like Sri and I are reliving a part of our childhood that we ourselves don't remember ;-) :-D.




Many a time, I have wondered what goes on in that tiny head of hers. Is it just "wet" or "hungry" or is it a whole lot of things that she is not able to express? Its plain amazing to watch her grow. Whats more amazing is the fact that her stomach is only as big as my hand and still can cause so much havoc :-D. She has started to flail her arms and kick her legs vigorously. I'm sure in no time, she'll be turning over and then crawling all over the place! Sri and I are really happy to have her. Everything feels exactly right - right place and right time :).

And then there is Sri. The man never ceases to amaze me! In two years I have seen him grow as a husband. I have seen him adjust to my idiosyncrasies and learn to deal with my tantrums :-D. I have simply seen him being the gem he is all the time :). Now I'm seeing a whole new facet of the man - the father.




He's oh-so-patient with Snuggles (well, I can always argue that he's not the one feeding her :-D) and its indescribable to see him with her. I sometimes even get jealous of the attention he bestows upon her :-D :)). He holds her/rocks her cradle for hours and seemingly simply cannot get enough of her :). And it makes me all teary-eyed ;-). 3 years ago, I never imagined I'd still be feeling this way about him - all mushy and gooey inside whenever I see him :-D. I guess the love is still growing and going strong :).

As for me, you know me. I'm the same old me - mostly happy, getting frustrated now and then, but basically living in the moment, enjoying what life has given me so far and very very much in love with my family. Always and forever are big words, but I hope to be this way as long as I live..

To reduce some of the sappiness in the post and also to keep up with my trend of putting comics, here's a Calvin and Hobbes strip on marriage ;-) :-D (click for a larger version).



And here's another one, go Suzy!!

You only blog twice (2 years) :-D

The Blog poem

There's a place on the web
Where I pen down my thoughts.
I write this, that and more
I type lots, lots and lots..

I write poems, I put pictures
I write huge posts on my travels
I write about my on-going life
As it slowly but surely unravels..

I started writing two years ago
I hope it goes on to three
Then to five, ten, fifteen, twenty
Until the ultimate end of me!

And she scored a century!!

I thought I would:

• Write 100 lines of poetry :).


• Upload 100 photos for a single post :).


• Write exactly 100 words in a post ;-).


• Think of 100 excuses why not to write a post and list them all in a post :-D.


• Write "100" 100 times in a post ;-).


• Search for 100 synonyms for 100 and list them all :).


• List 100 favourite somethings in a post :).


• Made 100 sincere dedications :)


• Say 100 heart-felt thankyou-s :).


• Rename my blog as "100" and change the outlook ;-).


• Jump 100 times in the air and describe the experience in my blog :-D.


• Eat 100 chocolates in celebration (certainly not a good idea :-p).


• Light 100 candles in rememberence :).


• Play and listen to 100 songs :).


• Yell 100 Hurrays :-D.


• Not write a post for 100 days :-o.


• Make 100 faces at my computer :-D.


• Mail 100 friends/relatives ;-).


• Make 100 phone calls :).


• List 100 of my favourite posts ;-).

Uhh, wait, I only have 100 posts total in my blog :-D. Hehehehe :).

A toast to 100 posts completed and 100s of more posts to come :). Cheers!!

Singing:

Sau posts pehle mujhe tumse pyaar tha
mujhe tumse pyar tha
Aaj bhi hein aur kal bhi rahega :)

Blog Birthday and a makeover ;-)

When it was born last year i.e 8th March 2005, my blog didn't look like what it is currently. It looked like this:




In fact, till yesterday it looked like this:




So, for its birthday, I decided that I've had enough pink and lets go for a change again :-D. Hence the birthday gift to my blog this year is a makeover :-D. The first change was done on 28th June 2005 here. Then it was just a revamping of the pink. This time, well, you can see it is anything but pink :).




Oh man!! Can't believe its been an year of blogging. In one year, this blog has seen my confusion, my sadness and ofcourse my lots and lots of happiness. I still haven't completed 100 posts (I'm stuck at 77 and I'm not that avid a blogger :-D). Actually thought of completing 100 posts as a birthday gift, but when you want to write posts, the ideas don't ever occur. So lets say, I just washed my hands off the idea :-p.

The pink has been getting to me for sometime and have had this idea of a change since about a month. But I waited basically because I thought it's be a wonderful idea for the blog birthday :). I basically love the black and white combination. Add grey and you have a great one. I really don't know how I got the idea for the title though, it sort of just hit me. The first title my blog had was "Deep Thoughts" kinda based on the "Hitchhiker to the galaxy" by Doughlas Adams. Secondly "Dip Tea" as my friend Ranjini used to call me. Both were generally related to my name. But now its "Like Duck To Water" and I dunno why :-D. I guess the fact that I had all those duck photos surely helped in deciding the title. I am proud to say that they are all taken by yours truly :). I do hope you all like the way my blog looks as much as I do :).

Meanwhile, 1 year of blogging gone, wonder how many years it'll continue. Hope it does until my last breath.

"Dear blog, wishing you a healthy, wealthy (:-D), happy and a long life"....***

*** Sneaky me, the wish is indirectly for myself, kyun ki for the blog to be healthy, wealthy etc, I have to be exactly those and more ;-) :-D...

8th March 2005 - The First Blog :)

Finally!!! I started my blogging today. It feels totally strange to put your thoughts on a space where any Tom, Dick or Harry and Tina, Sally or Mary (why leave out the women?) can see it... I guess that means I can't put my really private thoughts here :-D.

Actually I thought I'll start blogging on my 25th birthday, but still 5 months to go for that and I just couldn't wait :))).

For a start, thought I'll put my picture here...this one was taken about 2 years ago in Ooty :).