Blogjam

I think my blog has gotten off to an above average opening, going by the response that has been trickling in, mainly via email, and some via facebook. Friends in Bombay have been kind enough to call and tell me my stories brought a smile to their face. Thank you all, for all the encouragement.

Even my mom called to say that she wasn’t totally unimpressed (coming from her that’s a huge compliment). Though, being a patriotic retired central government servant, she did take offence to my POST OFFICE story and has warned me to steer clear of Government run agencies in future, else run the risk of losing her patronage.At this stage even trespassers are welcome to my blog, so can't lose a valuable reader in mom. So the perennial road digging BMC, killer Government buses, the RTO and the Railways will be spared.

I have been receiving negative reactions too, pertaining mainly to the length. Good friend MV actually mailed me asking for a summary of my 'Masala Movie' story, stating he couldn't get past the 1st para. It is classic MV in action. He has that uncanny ability to slap you back to reality just when you are getting off the ground. If there is an opposite of ‘wind beneath the wings’ it’s him.
In hindsight (my brain functions only in hindsight; it is my heart that functions in the here and now) MV is probably right. My posts are rather long, longer than the average blog post. So now, in order to keep brutally candid readers like him in, I will consider shorter pieces in future.

I also got feedback of another kind. Dear friend A, after reading my blog, told me watch ‘Julie and Julia’, a movie that she said was right up my street. I saw it, that very night. It was about a young aspiring writer trapped in a job she didn’t enjoy (this could well be me, if you take out ‘young’) who takes recourse in writing a blog about her experiments in the kitchen (this can’t be me). The blog is a non-starter initially, but becomes a huge hit and gets featured in the NY Times, and eventually the young aspiring writer gets her own book published.

What a great movie to kick start my writing career! Husband says I should hold my horses – you want to run before you can crawl. Or as my gym trainer might say: you want to get into a LBD (little black dress for the uninitiated) before running a mile on the treadmill.

In the midst of all the fan mails and fan(g) mails, I have learnt one thing in common between me and my readers.Like me, most of you are yet to figure how to post comments below a story. Some of you told me you struggled, as I myself did. Some of you have asked me how to subscribe, follow and get updates, none of which I have answers to yet. I need to get in some pictures too, that’s another technical aspect I’m struggling with.

There’s a lot to be taken care of, till then real stories have to wait!