June 29, 2014

My Liebster Award Nomination - A Toast To Blogging !



For anyone who loves his/her craft and is passionate about it, a recognition or even a few words of praise by their peers is the best compliment of all. Not only is it devoid of flattery and formality, it's inherently honest as someone of your field has decided to lend their name to acknowledge your work.

I got such a pleasant surprise last week when my fellow blogger Yashi, who creates her magic with words at Split Strings, informed me that she has nominated Me And My Dark Side for The Liebster Award. I humbly accept her nomination and thank her a million for this recognition. I hope motivates me to increase both the quality and the frequency of my blogging.

The word liebster is German for kindest, sweetest or nicest. The Liebster Award is not a physical award but is a chain where bloggers nominate their fellow blogs (with less than 1000 followers) who then can pass is along, keeping the chain of recognition active. It has some standard rules that I have sourced from Yashi:

If you have been nominated for The Liebster Award and you choose to accept it, write a blog post about the Liebster award in which you:

1. Thank the person who nominated you, and post a link to their blog on your blog.
2. Display the award on your blog — by including it in your post and/or displaying it using a “widget” or a “gadget”. (Note that the best way to do this is to save the image to your own computer and then upload it to your blog post.)
3. Answer 11 questions about yourself, which will be provided to you by the person who nominated you.
4. Provide 11 random facts about yourself.
5. Nominate 5 – 11 blogs that you feel deserve the award, who have a less than 1000 followers. (Note that you can always ask the blog owner this since not all blogs display a widget that lets the readers know this information!)
6. Create a new list of questions for the blogger to answer.
7. List these rules in your post (You can copy and paste from here.) Once you have written and published it, you then have to:
8. Inform the people/blogs that you nominated that they have been nominated for the Liebster award and provide a link for them to your post so that they can learn about it (they might not have ever heard of it!)


Here's my answers to Yashi's questions-


1.Your secret obsession?

Political satire. I spend hours watching Jon Stewart, Bill Maher, Newslaunsdry.com and John Oliver. 

2. Your favorite smell?

Unless your follow up question is about my weight, I am going to say, the smell of Indian food :).

3. What inspires you to write a post?

I need to channel my thoughts and sometimes my energy as well. That's my biggest inspiration to write.

4. What is your therapy to get through the lows of your life?

Talk to a very exclusive group of friends that I call "circle of trust",  and/or write about it.

5. One destination you have dreamt of visiting?

There is not one destination that I can think of but if I can make it to any destination off those Buzzfeed lists that one should visit before dying, would be amazing! Also, for me, it's more about whom I am with, rather than where I go.

6. Do you think love gives way to reality?


I believe the other way round. It's the reality of circumstances that decide the fate of love; Distance, compatibility, timing etc.

7. What do you love getting as gifts?

Anything that's well thought of.

8. Given a chance to undo a mistake would you do it or leave it as it is?

I will undo it but I am pretty sure I cannot foresee the consequences even then. There's a reason we are humans, isn't there! :)

9. What do you like to blog the most about?

People in different situations and complexities of life. And their Dark Side !

10. What is the craziest thing you have ever done?

Walked a mile or so in -11C (that felt even lower due to wind chill) and knee deep snow in my first winters in USA thinking I could make it. I did make it but it was painful. 

11. What is the biggest dream for you right now?


That I could define "settling down" to myself! 

I put forth the same questions as Yashi's to my nominated blogger friends.

And now's the time for the scoop !

11 Random Facts about me

I love being the Devil's Advocate in a debate.
I am not as serious a person in real life as my blog topics and content may suggest.
I enjoy reading and sharing blogs. Anyone who knows me can tag me in any link they share and I read it!
I can discuss politics with anyone , anytime of the day! If you disagree with me, even better!
I inadvertently quote the show F.R.I.E.N.D.S. because I have seen it innumerable times.
I am obsessed with the idea of analyzing minutest of events in my life. If I don't learn, its a wasted opportunity.
My writing began with a funny post on engineers and assignment in colleges. It was on my first blog and an amateurish attempt of a 22 year old. I still cherish that memory :)  .
I miss my grad school !
My appearance has changed so drastically over the years that if you haven't seen me in 4 years, which many
haven't because I am not in India anymore, there is a good chance you won't recognize me! (It has happened
and it's an amazing feeling!! ).
I believe strongly in Karma.
My Magnum Opus post is in the "making" !

I would like to nominate the following blogs, that I believe are never short of good content, for the Liebster Award:

1) Richa at The Philosopher's Stone
2) Aravind at Rhythm of the Soul
3) Sreeja Parveen at The Alter Ego...
4) Wildflower at Wildflower
5) Rishikant at Many Absurd Thoughts
6) Rachit at  Half Baked Thoughts
7) Vishwaroop at  Zindagi Megh Zara

Thanks again, Yashi. 














June 14, 2014

अबके हम बिछड़े....



आज आसमान को देखें और इबादत करें
शुक्रिया इस मौके का जब फिर हमारी राहें मिलें

आज बदल दे तक़दीर को और एक नया फसाना लिखें


यह पल तोहफा सा लगता है....


क्योंकि अबके हम बिछड़े तो शायद कभी ख्वाबों में मिलें....


आज इस कहानी के पन्नो को समेट लें

दिल में जो खिरचें हैं, उन्हें सी लें


यह अंतिम मौका सा लगता है


क्योंकि अबके हम बिछड़े तो शायद कभी ख्वाबों में मिलें....


आज हाथ बढ़ादे ओह हमराही

तुझे थामें किसी नयी डगर पे चलें


यह मोड़ दोराहा सा लगता है


क्योंकि अबके हम बिछड़े तो शायद कभी ख्वाबों में मिलें....


आज कह दे कुछ ऐसा कि ख़ुदा भी मुस्कुरा दे
जिसे सुनने के इंतज़ार में ना जाने कितने मौसम बदले
पतझड़ के बाद अब हमारे दिलों में भी तो बहारें खिलें


जीवन का यह अंतिम संवाद सा लगता है


क्योंकि अबके हम बिछड़े तो शायद कभी ख्वाबों में मिलें....
सूखे हुए फ़ूल जैसे किताबों में मिलें 











इस कविता कि प्रेरणा अहमद फ़राज़ कि अमर रचना - http://hindilyricspratik.blogspot.com/2012/01/ab-ke-hum-bichhde-to-mehdi-hassan.html

Pic Courtesy- Bakar Adda Page on Facebook (Published May 18)
https://www.facebook.com/bakaradda