28 Nov Awards, Thank You and More…!

It’s early morning, and upon waking up I  discover that I have just received an award – my 10th in the past 10 days! YAHOOO! YIPEE! YAY!!

There is something about awards that makes me super excited. 🙂

But, after a few moments of cheering and dancing, I start to ponder.

They say if someone hates you, you must be doing something right!
So if you don’t have haters or have a lot of people who like you, you’re doing something wrong??

Oh, what am I supposed to do now?!

It is late morning now and I am currently sitting on the floor, much like a sulking 4-yr old.
I start wailing, and my very concerned mother asks me, “What’s wrong?”
I tell her I’ve got 6 awards in the past 6 days, and had just finished writing the acceptance posts for another 3 that I had received the previous week.

My mother, now even more confused than before, tries to cheer me up by saying, “So, that’s nice, right? People are liking your blog and appreciating your writing. Well done. Keep it Up.”

That’s when I wail even louder and tell her that they say if someone hates you, maybe you are doing something right. My mom, now completely bewildered, asks, “Who’s Dave?!” I look at her, quiet for a moment, confused whether she is pulling my leg or really doesn’t know, then trying to decide whether to explain the saying to her or instead focus on its reference and cause of my sudden despair. And whether to figure out and explain all of that or to continue crying like before. (Now, I am really confused! Maybe, I myself didn’t know what that had to do with the awards or my crying).
Anyway, having made the decision and wanting to prove myself as the one not to be distracted so easily, I started bawling even louder. This is when my father decides to pursue matters himself, looks up from his newspaper and peers at me over his glasses. That sure shuts me up.

“What about your acceptance posts?” my mother asks.

“I don’t know,” I reply, sniffing. “The spaceship hasn’t passed by Earth in a while now, so I have nothing to write about.”
I look at her with woeful eyes. This time, my mother and my father exchange a look, after which they promptly go back to carrying on their respective tasks. (Not very helpful, I must say!)

Unsuccessful, much like the kid above, I sit down to write a soppy acceptance speech, proud of my achievements, humbled at the praise and love, and overwhelmed at the volume of work that lay ahead.

Ten minutes later, my mother finds me at the computer, battling with dragons and grabbing rubies. Twenty minutes later, my father finds me racing cars against imaginary foes. “Wheee….” I shriek, imitating the sound of the car engines.

Thirty minutes later, they both find me sprawled on the ground, head tilted to one side, left leg and right hand up in the air, chanting gibberish.

My father tilts his head in a similar position to align himself to look at me and asks, “What on Earth are you doing?”

“Calling the spaceship…” I reply in a robotic tone, my eyes fixed on the ceiling.

Both parents look up at the ceiling, nod understandingly and walk away. I continue my chant.

Forty five minutes later, I hear the whirring noise of the mixer grinder and remember that I was supposed to help in the kitchen. I half-scramble, half-run to the kitchen and see my mother emptying the contents of the blender in a jar.

“I was supposed to help you with that,” I remark guiltily.

“What about your spaceship? Is it here?” My mother asks me in mock concern. Behind me, my father snortles, annoyingly. I glare at him with narrowed eyes. My father instantly sobers up and I morosely walk back to my computer that screams “You Lost” in bold red letters. (Mean computer!)

I finally open all the blogs that have honored me, in separate tabs. I stare at them, humbly say “Thanks” and promptly close each tab one by one. “Done,” I exclaim gleefully and dive inside the invitingly warm blanket on my bed.
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The above fictitious story notwithstanding, I thank all readers, fellow bloggers and the Blogging Community for their support and patronage.
Your constant support, feedback, encouragement and awards like these have made me better each time. Some of the feedback has been criticism which helped me become better, some of it has been motivating praise inspiring me to do better.

Below is the list of blogs that I personally enjoy reading and would urge you all to visit. I also nominate each of them individually for the awards mentioned against their names. If they so choose to pass it on, I would be thrilled; If not, I respect their wishes. But would like for them to accept it as this is a gesture of my admiration and appreciation for their immensely creative and impressive skills (Please forgive me if you are not nominated. It’s not your loss, it’s mine for not having the capability to recognize your amazing blogs!)

• The Beautiful Blog Award – From WeAreThePoisonedYouth (BookLoverFob)
  The one place that all book lovers should land up in. “The 100” and “Selection” is on my list of must reads, thanks to her book reviews.

• Real Neat Blog – From Anand of Blabberwockying! and Waterblogged
  Anand is known as the Generous Giver in Blogosphere, and I doubt if there would be anyone in Blogosphere who doesn’t know him. (What you really don’t? Come out from under that rock, will you!)Waterblogged is another amazing reader and just as amazing a writer (apart from being a double graduate. WOW!). You must read his article on How to rescue wet books! Not only because it is hilarious but also, because it may come in handy some time.

• Epic Awesomeness Award – From Anand, again. He really is just too generous in his praise of me. Thanks so much, Anand.
• Versatile Blogger Award – From BeingMePresently
  All us women who think we are great at multi-tasking, just visit her blog and see what all she is upto.
• The Creative Blogger Award – From HugsnBlessings
  I have to admit that I had not ever visited this blog before being nominated by her for this award. And, I realized that the loss had be mine only. She has such amazing stuff in her blog that not reading her articles would be a mistake! And if that isn’t compelling enough, just read this.
• One Lovely Blog Award – From freespirit
  Whatever she writes, it is honest and from the heart. That’s refreshing and makes you wanna go back for more.

Part of the rules of some of these awards are to either give some facts about yourself or answer some questions.

So, here they all are –

Facts that I need to share in response to Bookloverfob, Beingmepresently, and Freespirit –

• I am overly sensitive, often find myself crying while watching movies or reading books. So far so good. But I can cry at so much as a loud reprimand from my boss! Not so good, now!
• I love to make people laugh. I try to go out of my way to make sure something I say or do makes them smile.
• I have a sweet tooth, and all desserts, pastries, cakes, brownies are my weakness and the reason for my increasing waistline.
• I hate exercise, absolutely detest it. Anything that makes me sweaty or out of breath is a no-good in my book. (Dancing doesn’t count as exercise) That’s why I’ve convinced myself that brisk walking, Yoga, and swimming are the best ever forms of exercise in the world.
• I have stage-fright but I secretly want to be an actress. Go figure!

Questions from Waterblogged and Freespirit –

1. The last book you read from a foreign author?
   I have a huge collection of books, that I keep reading and re-reading again and again. The last book from a foreign author I read was The Wedding Season by Su Dharmapala.
2. Christmas in Finland or Christmas in Antigua?
   I guess, Finland, since I believe it would be magical. Don’t know about the Christmas in Antigua.
3. If you could choose where to live (regardless of family, your commitments, etc.) – where would you live?
   Dubai, definitely.
4. Somebody you admire – why?
   Sushmita Sen because she has had the courage to defy Indian society and live life on her terms.
5. What did you do for your last holiday?
   I’d gone on a golfing trip with my parents. I did a lot of photography, sight-seeing, lazing around, and spending quality time with my parents. More details here.
6. Your favourite book?
   If Tomorrow Comes by Sidney Sheldon.
7. Do you prefer travelling by ship or plane?
   I’ve never travelled by ship (would love to, though!) so I guess plane.
8. Movie or theatre?
   Movie.

My Nominations for each of the awards –

• The Beautiful Blog Award – Mummy got you a daddy (A beautiful lady whose amazing writing befits this award)
• Real Neat Blog – Shannon Tellis (With a tagline like that, his blog could be nothing less. Visit his blog to know what tagline 😉
• Epic Awesomeness Award – BooksandOtherMiracles
• Versatile Blogger Award –  The Hibster (Uninhibited but thoughtful writing about everything. Her posts that will make you stop and look at the world around you again)
• The Creative Blogger Award – MonkeyJungle (Momma Monkey Christy is too funny!)
• One Lovely Blog Award – CameraPenTravel (Lovely blog about writing, travel and photography, hence, this award is perfect for Cassie 🙂 )

I would like to thank those who nominated me and everyone who has liked, read, commented on and followed my blog. And to all the other awesome writers whose blogs I follow and continue to learn from, Thank you so much for being such an inspiration.

Congratulations to my Award Winners. I do not wish to burden them with any additional questions. They can choose to answer any of the above or completely skip if they so wish to. There is no requirement to pass on the award either 🙂 Just know that you are loved and valued.