It’s the end of the year and time
for my end-of-the-year post. What surprises and saddens me at the same time is
the fact that this is just my third post this year. I’ve been saying that I
have to write more, but mere talking never helps in this case. It’s the action
and not the words that count. Well, having given myself a tight slap with the
previous sentence, let’s move on to other things.
The year has been good to me in
more ways than one and despite the occasional lows, there’s very little cause for
complaint. Let me break the big news to those few of you who don’t follow me in
any social media platforms but here. I’m engaged. Yes, you read that right. That
explains the title of this post. :-)
I can shout and make it dramatic like Monica Geller, but let me leave that part
to my fiancée, who, by the way, is called Monica. Well, not quite. She’s
Moneeka, but yeah. It may seem like quite a coincidence for those of you who
might have read my previous blog post. Well, that post was a figment of my
imagination and quite rightly, my fiancée observed that the girl in that post
was too idealistic to be true. Ha ha. No pressure, darling. Jokes apart, with
that big news in tow, I guess I am allowed that bit of room for excuse for not
keeping up with my promise, atleast on the writing front. I did write a small poem to break this news to the world. You can read it here. So, yeah. I have my excuse. ;-)
The year actually started with me
taking up that challenge of watching and reviewing all Oscar – nominated films
before the actual awards ceremony. I did win that challenge and that set me up
for what could have been a more productive year, writing-wise. I did review quite
a few films in Facebook. It is just that the intended blog posts didn’t happen.
Also, I started off with a ‘Sports 50’ post to list out 50 sportspersons who
have given me the greatest joy of watching/following sports. Even that series
is stuck and is yet to move on from its second post.
I happened to read the
testimonials that my batchmates had written for me in my IIM Kashipur Yearbook.
It throws some light on what I was and what my goals were a couple of years
ago. Things have changed since then. And people change too. There is a very
prominent mention of a book that I had promised to write, in most of those
testimonials. Though always at the back of my mind, that book is yet to
materialize. A person known to me challenged me to get that book out before a
girl walks into my life. Though that seemed to be an interesting challenge
then, now I have realized that I will not write something for the sake of
writing. I know I will write, but it shall take its own sweet time. The fact that my fiancée also reads and looks
forward to my writing is a motivation in itself to write. So yeah, better some
action than empty words.
Credit should be given, taken
rather, for reviving the reader in me. Thanks to JK Rowling, I was able to read
like I used to once –for hours together, lost in a world between those pages. I
re-read the entire Harry Potter series in the hope that I’d start reading a lot
again and that worked like magic. I’ve read some 14-15 books this year, apart
from the HP series. This is quite an improvement from last year when the score
was 3.
I really do not know what else to
write in this post, except to muse over the fact that I’ve finally written a
post after long. There are quite a few things that I want to write, but in my quest
to write a well-researched post, I’ve stopped musing or rambling with a
personal touch. That’s what I’ve done here and that’s what I feel I should
continue doing. Just start writing and muse over things in mind and voila, we
have a post. That’s what we have here.
To you, the reader, if you’ve
patiently read thus far, I wish you a Merry Christmas and wonderful New Year
2018. May all your wishes be fulfilled in the year ahead!
-Ashwin Murali
PS: Writing a blog helps in many
ways. My fiancée and my in-laws-to-be learnt quite a lot about me through this
blog. It probably helped them ‘okay’ me, I guess. :-)
So the next time someone questions you on the merit of writing a blog and what
good may come of it, show them this post script. ;-)
