Women's Day Liebster Awards




It has been some time since I did one of these award posts. The latest one is from Anunoy who I have known well for more than a year now. I can chose either to club it with the two earlier ones or do them one at a time. If I club them, thirty three questions will become an overdose for a blog post. So need to take one at a time. I will start with the current one. With already so much delay, a little more delay won’t change things for the earlier ones. As well do this one time.

The below are supposedly the rules of the award
  1. Jot down 11 things about yourself 
  2. Answer 11 questions set by your gracious nominator 
  3. Nominate 11 deserving bloggers for spreading this love and encouragement 
  4. Now it’s your turn to set 11 questions for them 
  5. Inform them of all these by e-mailing, fb-walling, twittering or commenting on their blog post 

Eleven things about myself
  1. I had no interest in writing even as a hobby till the age of 24, when a friend at office suggested that I should try a hand at writing. 
  2. It took me 5 more years before I took the decision to actually get started on my blog. 
  3. I started my blog with the intention of sharing my analysis on issues in the areas of society, politics and international relations, which was one of the reasons for my anonymity. 
  4. I have a thing for fancy monikers. Earlier I have been ‘Wise Man from the East’, ‘Quest Seeking Wanderer’, ‘The Raven’ and ‘Tale Swapper’ on different online forums and chat rooms. 
  5. After a couple of reproduction of articles by famous persons, a philosophical piece and piece on democracy, I had no clue what to write on my blog. So I took to reproducing the sole poem I had written while at college, speeches I had written while at toastmasters and at the height of desperation, a letter I had written to one of my prospective brides. 
  6. My first attempt at photo blogging was putting pictures of monkeys, stray dogs, buffaloes and donkeys shot using my new 2 Mega Pixel Mobile phone. An my last too. I am not cut out to be a photographer.
  7. My earliest inspiration as a blogger came from the unlikeliest of sources: a blogger turned author, Meenakshi Reddy Madhavan. Reading about her on a popular news website, I realized humorous posts on relationships get maximum readership. 
  8. Based on my insights above, I wrote my bride hunt series that became a runaway success, despite me being an obscure blogger with no networks whatsoever to speak of. I used to get 1000 hits a day when it was running. 
  9. I tried to replicate my success through a series on my unsuccessful trysts with romance. That however turned out to be such an utter flop that I gave up writing on relationships for good. 
  10. My first ever pieces of writing were poems title ‘The Dog Tamer’ and ‘The Dog in the Bog’, silly rhymes making fun of my friends during school days. Unfortunately I did not retain the papers on which I had scribbled either of them. 
  11. I however still retain in my memory, most part of the sole more serious poem I wrote during my school days. I have reproduced it below to the best of my recollection. 

Of give and take 
Our life we make 
But all is fake 
It is time we wake 
And start living for others’ sake 
Or our lives will be, of sorrows, a lake 
For each of us is a different cake 
From the same bake 

My answers to the 11 Questions posed by Anunoy
1) What has been your more satisfying experience- with your desktop or laptop?
The most satisfaction you derive from anything is maximum when you use it for the first time. That is true of computers as well I guess. There were only desktops when I first started using computers.

2) Are you fond of train journey or flight? Reason for your choice?
These days I have begun to prefer flights. Lately I have not had too many pleasant experiences on Indian trains.

3) Which is your dream travel destination? And which one is your favourite one?
Somehow I have been fascinated by Manchu Picchu. Thassos Island in Greece has been the most memorable place I have visited to date.

4) Mention 3 of your qualities which you want to pass on to your offspring.
I have never given a thought to it. But I think children should be allowed to be themselves and be accepted for who they are by their parents as long as they don’t turn out to be criminals or complete wastrels. It is not fair to expect any specific qualities of them. They are who they are, qualities and all.

5) What is the most violent incidence you’ve faced till date?
In terms of physical violence, I can remember numerous occasions of violence both against me and by me. But none of them affected me mentally. I will choose the one incident without physical violence that affected me mentally. That was being robbed of my wallet in a shared auto in Hyderabad. Somehow my first face to face encounter with crime disturbed me a lot mentally as if confirming to me that crime really exists. Till then it had been a theoretical concept.

6) Have you ever felt “I’m the king of the World”? If yes, when?
This is a rather strange question. I have often felt that way in my day dreams. Never felt that way in the real world.

7) Characteristic features/behaviours in people those piss you off?
I think I am wary of people with cold as I tend to catch it easily. So if people are sneezing and coughing around me, I tend to turn irate. I try not to judge people. But still pompousness unconsciously pisses me off.

8) What is your dream job?
As of now author of fiction. Detective, artificial intelligence programmer, computer games programmer and psycho historian have been some of the others in the past. Even my current job was a dream job before I got it. Not that I have much complaints about it even now.

9) Do you ever dream of a world where there is no demarcation by countries and all are free to roam about anywhere without slightest hindrance and hatred?
I fully agree. I believe all these nations are just an artificial freezing of boundaries at some point in history and not as sacrosanct as we believe it to be. If we take an issue, say the Kashmir issue, there is no clear logic as to why it should belong to either India or Pakistan. In fact there is no clear logic even why Pakistan should be a separate country at all. All nations are historic accidents and leaders’ thirst for power that common people take too seriously.

10) At which age you had your first pornographic acquaintance?
At 14, I guess. Out school ICSE biology text book covered the topic in depth. Don’t know if that can be called pornographic content though. If we are talking about stuff classified officially as pornography, I believe it is illegal in India. So even if one were to assume I have had an opportunity to have viewed content of such nature, I would not openly acknowledge.

11) Did you feel good to be nominated or took it as a headache? I swear I won’t mind your honest reply.
It is always good to be nominated for something. But writing these posts too often can be a headache.

Nominations

Now it is my turn to nominate 11 bloggers and shoot my question. Today being women’s day let me use this opportunity to pay my tribute to 11 of my favorite women bloggers by passing on this award to them. Please forgive me if you find this too tiresome. I hope I have framed interesting questions for you. If not, feel free to skip this. Also there is no compulsion to pass on to eleven others.

1. Arti
2. Deepa Duraisamy 
3. Rachna Parmar 
4. Bhavana
5. Zephyr 
6. Kirti 
7. Pooja 
8. Saru Singhal
9. Indu Chibber
10. Farida Rizwan
11. Jayashree Srivatsan

I know I should have written a few lines about each of you but somehow my mind is not working. I don't want to say something very banal just for the heck of it when I could have said much better things if my mind had been working. But it is not and I wanted to get get my post out today. So please forgive my laziness.

My questions
1. One event in your life that you would change if you had the power to do so
2. One event in the history of our nation that you would change and why
3. One event in the history of the world that you would change and why
4. One book that you would wish unwritten from the world and why
5. One famous historic personality you wish unborn from the history of the world and why.
6. One famous scientific discovery or invention that you would like to uninvent and why
7. If you had a chance to be in some other era, which would it be and why?
8. One fictional character you wish had existed in reality and why ?
9. One imaginary invention or scientific discovery that you wish existed today
10. One historic personality you would like to bring back from dead today and why?
11. If you could get into the shoes of a historic personality or fictional character, who would it be and why?

23 comments:

asteria's canvass said...

nice answers,the only reason i did not pass on the award to you was that i was sure u mite already b having a substantial no f dem,proven right .. :)

Rachna said...

Thank you so much TF for including me in this illustrious bunch. And thank you for waiving off the passing on rule. I am really honored to get this award from many fellow bloggers. This is my 6th one, and I am also sitting on two earlier ones. I guess I have to do one award post taking up all the questions. And your questions will require some thinking. Nice to know some more facts about you. I recently read your bride series which was quite a laugh riot!

Saru Singhal said...

Elated, for myself of course. I love awards and coming from you, it's awesome. :)

Your blogging journey is quite fascinating and you have evolved, would love to read 'bride hunt series.' Please inbox me the link :)

I think you can be a good fantasy writer. I have read few of your posts and you are good. Write a book, we all are there for you, be the next Amish Tripathi. And please don't write poem, leave that genre of less talented people like me. :) Your questions are very interesting and I'm answering some of them here.

1. One event in your life that you would change if you had the power to do so
Not an event but my school.

2. One event in the history of our nation that you would change and why
Partition and why, more peace and world would have been quite different.


3. One book that you would wish unwritten from the world and why
Till date I have not finished reading one book, 'Holy Cow.' You hate your country and the religion in it after reading it.

4. One famous historic personality you wish unborn from the history of the world and why.
Amelia Earhart, I love flying that's why.

5. One famous scientific discovery or invention that you would like to uninvent and why
Phone, I know we wouldn't be blogging but I hate phones and I don't carry a cell phone.

6. If you had a chance to be in some other era, which would it be and why?
I'm happy in this era. Perfect for me :)

7. One imaginary invention or scientific discovery that you wish existed today
Time Travel.

T F Carthick said...

Thanks, Ratika. This came indirectly from you only. Anyways you had mentioned me in your post even without giving the award which is even better.

T F Carthick said...

Glad you liked the bride hunt. Yeah, anyways I did not create these awards. So not so keen on having my nominees adhere to it completely letter and spirit. But yes, thought it will be nice to mention you all on the occasion of women's day. I am definitely curious to know all your answers to my questions. So looking forward to your answers.

T F Carthick said...

Thanks for your wishes, Saru. My primary interest is science fiction fantasy writing. Poetry is not my cup of tea and no way I am going to compete with the likes of you in poetry. My poetry is all rhyme, structure, words and concepts. I think a you once told Leo, that is Mathematics and not poetry.

Thanks for answering all my questions. I was curious to see you and others answer my questions. I learnt a few things new too - about Holy Cow and Amelia Earhart. Didn't get the thing about Amelia though. As in you wanted to be the first woman to fly? You have flied?

indu chhibber said...

I am honored to be included in your list TF--thanks a lot.Now this is a mammoth task-it will take some time.

Maliny said...

Congratulations on the award TF . Its indeed thoughtful of you to have passed the nominations onto some of the best woman bloggers out there on the occasion of Woman's Day :)

Actually i had read an article praising Meenakshi Reddy in Hindu years back , way before i started blogging myself . Her father is a prolific malayalam writer and a common name around here . When i told my mother a few years later that i would soon start blogging myself , she warned me saying , ' You can write as much as you want . But dont bring bad name to the family by blurting out expicit contents like Meenakshi did ' :D . ( Though, i dont think her parents are ashamed of her . She is a published author , which is indeed big ! )

Anyways just felt like sharing it here . keep blogging and hope your blog keeps expanding day after day :)

DS said...

Its interesting to know that you were such a late starter whence writing is considered. But since you were always a voracious reader the transition might have been not that difficult.

Zephyr said...

Thank you for including my name in the list of your favourite bloggers, TF and also for being so flexible about the conditions of the nomination :)

C Suresh said...

Congrats TF! And I wish I had thought of this idea in time for my Liebster :)

T F Carthick said...

Will wait for your answers, Indu.

T F Carthick said...

I at least hope you will answer the questions. I am sure you will have interesting answers to these questions.

T F Carthick said...

Thanks, Maliny. Thanks for sharing information about the author. She is bit of an unconventional writer indeed. But she gave me the idea on what sells.

T F Carthick said...

DS- Reading is a different ball game and writing is different. I remember a time when my friend asked me to start - I sat in front of a blank word document for hours and finally came up with such crap that even I could not bear to read it myself.

T F Carthick said...

Thanks Suresh. The idea of woman's day, Suresh?

Arti said...

Thank you TF, for finding me worthy enough to be included in that highly influential list of woman bloggers. I feel deeply honored to receive the award from you, even a simple word of appreciation from bloggers like you helps me believe in myself and motivates me to keep doing whatever I'm doing. Thank you very much, TF, and please accept my apologies for not passing this further. Congratulations to you too, I hope you get your 'now' dream job soon. May the best of forces be with you! :-)

And btw, I loved the poetry of same bake - It is indeed very beautiful.

T F Carthick said...

Thanks Arti. Glad you liked the poem. I have always been attached to this poem since it is the first I wrote.

No problem about not passing on, though it might have been interesting to know your answers to some of the questions.

Saru Singhal said...

I want to fly and I haven't. I have a friend who did multiple degrees from India and UK and later followed his heart and learnt flying. Now, he is with Jet Airways, he is my only hope to see a actual cockpit. I hope he flies a Airbus 380 soon and invites me.

Deepa from FictionPies said...

Many thanks for the nomination! I had a tough time thinking and writing about your posts. I started out seriously but then couldn't stop myself from introducing some not so serious answers! :) Greece is on my list too! I have posted the award on my blog and answered the questions. Here's the link.

Cheers,
Deepa.

Bhavana said...

TF, first of all I missed your profile pic. Now it seems you have returned to your original self! Uff! Nope havent read your bride hunt series. Need to read what all you did and now I am curious about your romance pieces--gives me the kick that a sci-fi/out-of-the-world blogger/writer like you would have written it. Chuckling here... The answers to the questions are hilarious and the questions even more tongue-in-cheek.
Thank god our questions are no so difficult! I never thought I would ever be mentioned in your blog. Was always kind of scared of you--what with your in-depth reviews and steady writing pattern. I smiled on International Women's Day morn when you let me know and am smiling again today when I read this. Thanks, TF, thanks a lot.

T F Carthick said...

Sure Deepa. Thanks for answering the questions. Will got through. Anyway these days I am trying to be regular at your blog.

T F Carthick said...

Got it back long time back, Bhavana. I can send you the bride hunt as well as love series. Good to know you value an award from me so much.

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