Of blogging and bloggers

I swaggered into blogging in the usual manner that I attack most of my new ventures, filled with a good dose of confidence and an absolute lack of knowledge or experience. After I finishing my first post, sitting back, I realised that it really didn't turn out the way it was intended to and hence I tweaked it a bit. I finally found the post appealing and charming (if i may say so myself) after a few attempts. I published it and awaited contendedly for the fan mails to start pouring in. A day later, there was no comments or fan mails, I sighed as great artists would and started work on my second post.

Well written, was what registered in my mind when I finished the second post. Surely this one would rise to dizzying heights in literary circles, I thought. The salesman in me took over and I marketed my blog with my friends, hoping for good word of mouth. Some of them read the piece and some only pretended to. Among those who read is a friend who is an accomplished writer. I would have to attribute my first taste of reality to her. She started by saying that there was potential but then described the areas of improvement, eg, the spelling, grammar, flow of thought etc, it is from her that I learned that a 10 year old child probably would have better grasp of english grammar than I did. THUD! My ego landed, bruised and battered.

I have her and a few other friends to thank for their critical commentary, because they opened my eyes to the reality around me and made me want to learn new things rather than just imposing my writing on others. Humility had firmly set in by this point. I started travelling around the various blogs and immediately realising that there was enormous amouth of talent out there and there are many writers/bloggers who could make my efforts seem rather average. It was like wearing a superman's outfit and walking into a party only to find out that it was actually not a fancy dress event but a formal affair. As I browsed around in wonderment, I began realising that all this quality writing did'nt deter me at all, infact they were highly invigorating. Finding a great new blog ever so often became a thing of joy. I now see writing is a mountain which I must climb, if only to see the fantastic view on top and I'm sure that I will get there some day.

I've listed below some of the sites that I love visiting, I hope you would enjoy them too.

a) Annie Z's http://knownturf.blogspot.com/ , Annie is a very accomplished writer, who's style of writing I admire a lot. The way she feels for topics makes for compelling reading. (Suggested post to start with: Kali-bai, soul of the story).

b) -c's http://upthecreeek.blogspot.com/ , title of this blog 'Up the creek without a platypus' makes me laugh everytime I see it. I don't know if its a literary quote or -c's humour at play. The the writing is unique and incredibly funny. (Suggested post to start with: Meet the tomato)

c) Dilip D'Souza's http://dcubed.blogspot.com/, Dilip is a published author who can manage a wide range of topics from Gwen Stefani's new line of fashion apparels to more serious social issues with consumate ease. (Suggested post to start with: Irene)

d) Anu Bakshi's http://projectwhy.blogspot.com/, its the official blog of Project Why and my concience.

e) Ammani's http://jikku.blogspot.com/, Ammani says a lot with very few words in her wonderful quick tales.

f) Pat Mullan's http://patmullan.blogspot.com/ , Pat is an accomplished writer of thrillers and a former banker. I'm hoping to read his book The circle of Sodom, as soon as I can lay my hands on it.

g) Cheesecakey's http://cheesecakey.blogspot.com/ , Cheesey is a fellow reality show fan (yes, I do watch shows like the Amazing Race and the Contender and I like them too!) and you can expect anything at this blog, nude pictures or reviews of reality shows or a painting of Hieronymous Bosch or some neat worldly wisdom.

h) Baghdad Burning's http://www.riverbendblog.blogspot.com/, this is the inside story from Iraq.

i) DigitalBlasphemy's http://triviaholic.blogspot.com/, Zahra's http://zaaaonlife.blogspot.com/, Apss' http://abibrat.blogspot.com/ (my first blogging guru) and Dan's http://intricateweblog.blogspot.com/ are some neat blogs, my only complaint being that they don't get updated often enough, infact Dan's blog pretty much stops during the campaigning phase of the American elections, an reminder of an interesting period of time.


Fantastic bloggers all of them, some very fantastic posts and all in all a fantastic club to be a part of.