While I was away in Rajasthan, my blog quietly completed six years of its awesome being. I can never quantify the splendidness of this space and what it means to me, but here I am trying to put together six highlights of this entire time with a list of six of my most loyal followers, and some of my most favourite posts of all time.
The travelogues
From that first one about Chintpurni to this latest one about Rajasthan, I have loved writing out the details of every trip I have made in these years. And the recently put together Travels tab makes me immensely happy. Yes, I waste a lot of time re-reading these posts.
I started these almost the same time as I started this blog. In fact, some of these used to be around the birthday at one point. They help put things in perspective. Now they almost ensure that I am seeking to do new things and stay on my toes through the year. They even calm me down. They help me let go. They make me love myself more.
This one was legendary. I had made a random remark about the radio station, and would have never imagined it to take the turn it did. Of course, the man in question left the station a few years later and with that died the concept of talk radio, in India. And I must mention that later I even had a civil conversation with him, and invited him to a formal event on radio.
Going back to these is embarrassing, but putting them up made me very happy. And when I do happen to read any of them, I realise that it was a long, long time ago. The time when I still believed.
The times when I have just let it flow
A lot of vague thoughts, a lot of ranting. I have used the blog on the worst of days. I have written endlessly, not caring about how my handful of readers interpret what I write. Doing this helped establish that I cannot do poetry. And well, it’s just helped me a lot.
The six most loyal followers (in no order):
1. Subhadip
2. Priyam
3. Shreya
4. Akshay
5. Namrata
6. And the few silent followers – Ruhi, Karan, Misba, Sahil, the person in Minnesota, and everybody else that I don’t know about.
And my 6×3 most favourite posts. I tried shortlisting six, but that didn’t happen. After all, there are 657 published posts here. Again, in no particular order:
2. Budum-bum-bisshh – from the times when I obsessed about tags
3. About Dad
5. 220 Rocks – the two girls who made life extremely entertaining
6. Metamorphosis – on having lived a year away from home
7. The Jaipur Charm – cute guy at the airport
8. 25 – On turning 25
10. What the Heck – thinking about some people made me happy on a crappy day
12. Boxers – through the worst phase of life
13. There is Nothing to Talk About – on growing up
14. A Defence (for Delhi) – when Manu Joseph lost it!
15. 2012 – the year’s travels
16. Yoga Mornings
17. Every Day – on being me
18. According to Flickr – 10 of my most interesting photos as at that date
I am excluding all travel-related and year-end posts from this list. Just cannot choose!
It’s a happy happy birthday to my dear Fuchsiaa!!! 😀
Fuchsia 
6 years! Happy Birthday to Fuchsia – big sister to mine and always such a great read. Opportune moment to thank you and Fuchsia again for introducing me to this beautiful way of sharing, storing memories. Sometimes when I feel friend-sick and think of you, I go back to your old posts – from when I didn't even know you, and there's so many news things I discover :)Mabrook, Bhardwaj. (Arabic for congratulations) 😀
LikeLike
🙂 Your comment brought a big smile to my face. But I wonder what these new things you keep discovering are. :)Arabic mein thanks kaise bolte hain?
LikeLike
I'm glad it did. I was smiling writing it. What a happy bunch we are!These things I discover are little things. Maybe one day in some conversation, I will talk to you about the U special. Or the fact that Kunal Kapoor is hot. Then you'll know I've been reading :)Arabic me thank you is “Shukran”
LikeLike
Hahaa…yes, U special was very special. And Kunal Kapoor is still hot. Hehehe….Shukran hai, Chakroborty ji! 😀
LikeLike
Haw! Chakraborty. *maafi*
LikeLike
Haha. Koi baat nahi, Bhardwaj. Tumhare liye sab muaf!
LikeLike
Happy Birthday!! 🙂 You have nurtured this space beautifully! You know I love it and it is one of the two blogs I visit when I feel like reading awesome! Keep it going.. it means a lot to a lot of people, at least to me! 🙂 🙂
LikeLike
🙂 back here after long…nice to see you posting even now…cheers!will read Rajasthan post soonestcheers!
LikeLike
Priyam,Hayee….thanks! :DNamrata,That is so sweet of you to say. Thanks a lot. I do plan to keep it going :)Skeets!! Been really long! Thanks for visiting. 🙂
LikeLike
Happy Birthday Fuchsia 🙂 – Swati
LikeLike
Thank you, Swati. 🙂
LikeLike
Happy Birthday to Fuchsiafunny! And the fight with MEOW FM… they should write about it in TOI!I am delighted to be in the most loyal list (though it took me more than a month to read this!). I am glad that you still write. Nostalgic the good times when we all wrote blogs, and played “Me First” while commenting… I made so many good friends through them! Carry on writing 🙂
LikeLike
Hahaa…yes, I agree that the fight could have been pitched to TOI. :PI almost reconsidered having put your name there because you didn't respond for so long. So, this comment means more. :)”Me First” feels like it was a different era altogether. Those were good times. I will keep writing, you keep visiting.
LikeLike