Look, Who Read My Blog!

In my last post, I was cribbing how nobody reads and comments on my blog posts and is it worth writing a blog when nobody does so. Little did I know that my blog was soon  to be read and judged by none other than Bachi Karkaria - a renowned journalist, author and a former editor of Times of India (TOI). Not just read, but also liked enough for me to be selected for Times Passion Creative Writing Trail.

The Times of India, which is a highly renowned newspaper in India, had come up with a very interesting concept. It had conceived of various Passion Trails - travel itineraries with a small group of like minded people, led by a trail architect who was an expert in that area.  The themes of these Trails ranged from tracking footsteps of snow leopards in Ladakh to sampling street food in a particular region, from temple photography in South India to culture and heritage trail in a certain state. 

First evening in Mumbai with Bachi, Shaili and fellow participants

I was  quite proud to be a part of the Creative Writing Trail because participants were selected from a host of applicants from all over India. From the moment I set my eyes on the ad for the Creative Writing Trail, I knew that I was meant to be a part of it - ki jaise isko banaya gaya hai mere liye! 

Since my little one had come in my life, I was notorious for not reading newspapers on time. I also didn't want to dispose off the newspapers without reading them first, so I had stacks of them stored everywhere. Whenever I found few precious minutes, I would pull a random paper and devour it! So the fact that I read the newspaper in the same year (not to say anything of the same month:) ) and saw this ad in time, was a big sign in itself. Then I remembered to visit the Passion Trails website and registered myself I time. I also managed to fill up  convincing answers to questions like "Who is your favorite author and book?" and "Why should you be selected to be a part of the trail?". Trust me, this was a big achievement in itself because chores of life, have a knack of burying all other stuff in deep recesses of Neverland. The fact that I did everything in time plus my 4 blogs and a few published middles gave me some dough to display.

I was on cloud nine when I got a mail from TOI announcing my selection. True, I had to spend 40 k for participation, but even the Marwaran in me was convinced that it was worth the experience. After all, I was going to have a session with Javed Akhtar, that stalwart of Hindi film industry, who has given us movies like 'Sholay' and ' Deewar' and countless memorable songs. Apart from him, there was an interesting mix of famous wordsmiths like Amish Tripathi, Swanand Kirkire, Shaili Chopra, Vinay Shukla, Agnello Dias and of course Bachi, who was the trail architect and was to stay with us throughout the trail.

A literary session with Javed Saab at JW Marriott, Mumbai. What an afternoon!!!

Stories from the Trail will lend themselves to another narrative. What I wanted to express in this post is how my belief got reinforced - the belief that no endeavor in life gets wasted. My blogs and middles took me to the Trail. I had a body of work that spoke to someone. My writing mattered. 

The Trail has already made precious memories and lovely friends. Who knows where all will it take me from here! Cheers to future literary journeys and happy blogging :)