100th Post...!!!?!!!

Before writing this post, I kept wondering what my 100th post should be about, and still as I write this post, I am not sure of the same. Why is 100th post important at all? Was the first question I asked myself; to me as a writer, even the 99th or a 43rd posts are also equally important. But then I realised that celebrating 100th post does not mean we neglect the rest, but the celebration includes every single of them which has constituted for achieving this milestone. 

It is time to stop for a moment and recollect and cherish the journey so far. These thoughts may be obvious but we never pay attention to them. So having cleared that doubt, I next wondered what should be written; should I recollect all the special posts so far? That might not be very interesting for the reader. So I decide to tell a story, a story about my blogging experience so far. I think this would be ideal for a 100th post and a reason for celebration. Until August 2005, I had no clue of what the word – Blog meant. 

While speaking to a colleague from the US, who was then in China, she told me about her online journal recording the China experience. I went through her blog and was all excited about the concept. I had then just returned from America after having lived there for a year and I was filled with fresh and green memories from my stay; I had maintained a special journal to record my experiences in the US, apart from the diary, but that was abandoned in few months. 

But my diary kept recording every new thing I saw and did there and this world of blog, I thought was the best platform to express those thoughts. So I began writing a blog on my USA experience. 

As most of these writings are directly from my diary, I decided to pre-date the posts by a year. Somewhere in May 2006, I became greedy and wanted to express more; more than just my US experiences. I had so many stories to say about my life; I started enjoying the beauty of having an online journal as some of my close friends started reading them and discussing my thoughts. This is when I decided to write this blog – The Hours. (Why I choose this name is my first post.) 

I kept writing and expressing myself. The post I wrote on my grandmother – Ajji , has received the most admiration than any other. Even today some of my friends and relatives remind me of that post and tell me how touching it is. In these 2.5 years, I went through several moods, several ups and downs and every one of them is recorded in this blog; some straight forward to be noticed; some entangled in complicated words, but they have all been revealed. 

After having written for a long time, I realized that writing is nothing but an opinion and every individual has one of his own, hence there has to be healthy discussion. The solution was to invite like minded people to my blog and interact with them. Discussions and debates allow us to know different perspectives rather than just ours own. 

This is when I started visiting blogs similar to mine and read their thoughts on similar topics. Slowly my connectivity increased and I started making several friends, whom I have never seen but are so much part of my daily life today. With many I exchanged ideas, opinions, even had debates which I think helped me grow as an individual. 

It is interesting to notice that these friendships are without any expectations and hence even with out having met in person, I share a wonderful friendship with some bloggers. Over this long period, I have lost some friends who stopped blogging, but some have stayed along with me for so long now. 

I thank you all for being such a big support to me and my writing. Apart from the admirations I have also had some strange sarcastic questions from people… When do you get time to blog? I have never understood this question fully, but I prefer to answer thus– I dedicate some time every week for my posts. Why do you write blog? Who reads them? What exactly should we blog about? I think that to do something, one has to have interest in it. 

I do not write so that someone else can read. It is a way I choose to express myself and like minded people will always be attracted towards it. I have not stuck to one topic for my blog…it has always been vastly versatile depending upon my mood. This blog has been my best companion so far and I owe thanks to my blog, which has been my friend during happy and bad times; with it I have expressed many moments and emotions; some that I have not shared with anyone else; such closer is our friendship. 

So this post is dedicated to my Blog itself…..I am celebrating our friendship today.