Look, who read my blog!

In my last post, I was cribbing that nobody reads and comments on my blog. Little did I know that my blog was soon  to be read and judged by none other than Bachi Karkaria, a renowned journalist, former editor of TOI (Times of India) and an author. Not just read, but also liked enough to select its writer for Times Passion Creative Writing Trail.

First evening with wordsmiths, Bachi and Shaili

I was  quite proud to be a part of this trail because participants were selected from a host of applicants from all over India- around 4000 is what I gathered. From the moment I set my eyes on the ad, I somehow felt that I was meant to be a part of this trail.....ki jaise isko banaya gaya hai mere liye..... I am notorious for not reading newspapers on time. So the fact that I read the paper 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 site from time to time, registered myself and managed to fill up answers to questions like "who is your favorite author and book" and " why should you be selected to be a part of the trail" convincingly. Trust me, this was a big achievement because chores of life, with their mundaneness, have a knack of burying all such stuff in deep recesses of Neverland. The fact that I did everything in time played in my favor plus my 4 blogs and a few 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 30 odd thousand plus airfare to Mumbai, but even the Marwaran in me was convinced that it was worth the experience. After all, I was going to meet Javed Akhtar, that stalwart of Hindi film industry, whom I have listened to countless number of times and admired a lot. Apart from him, there was an interesting mix of people related to the craft of writing 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.

Stories from the trail will lend themselves to another narrative. What I wanted to express in this post is how my belief got reinforced. My belief that no action in life goes waste. My blogs and middles took me to the trail. 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!

Last afternoon of the trail with Javed Saab. What an afternoon!!!