Exploring the magic of words…
The streets here are filled with people. There is colored powder floating in the air. The sound of laughter has made the neighborhood come alive. There is heady excitement on everyone’s faces. Music drowns all other sound apart from one. The irregular repetition of a single phrase, delivered in a light-hearted voice, now from one’s mouth, now from another’s.
“Bura na mano, Holi hai!”
I have no idea how this happened! But Sarah from Reflections of a Bear seemed to think my Blog was cool enough to nominate me for the Liebster Award! Thank you so much, Sarah and Bear! It really makes me so happy that you liked my Blog. I’m truly honoured.
The Liebster Award is not a real award. It’s just a Blogger’s way of telling you that they like your Blog and it’s more of a thumbs-up than anything else. It’s a way for older, experienced Bloggers to encourage and motivate new Bloggers. The word ‘Liebster’ literally means sweetest/ lovely/ endearing/ welcome in German. So basically, if someone nominates you and you accept the award (completely your choice to accept or not), you have to answer the questions said Blogger asks you and then nominate a few others and ask them some questions too.
So with a spring in my step and my heart bursting with gratitude, I’d like to accept this wonderful award! Thanks again, Sarah! 😀
Here are the questions she set me :
1. Why do you blog?
At first, I began simply because I found WordPress a beautiful place where I could keep my stories safe. I always fear I’m gonna lose everything I’ve ever written in a fire or something so putting them up on the internet seemed like a good idea. But in just a few days, my outlook over the whole thing has changed. Blogging makes me happy. I get motivated reading stuff other people write and their comments on what I have written. Besides, writing itself is so intoxicating! It makes me feel beautiful from the inside. And leaves me grinning the entire day like an idiot.
2. What is your most embarrassing ‘brain fog’ or awkward moment?
There are too many to count! But the one I always recall with the utmost horror was the first school program I hosted. I was very nervous and afraid of messing everything up, which I did, of course. I tripped over my own tongue, in front of the entire school, forgot to follow the correct sequence of events in the program and blushed bright red. I must’ve made a hilarious sight, but thankfully, no one laughed out loud. When I got home, I curled up in bed and cursed myself the entire evening.
Once I got over the shock of it, however, I decided to take it simply as a learning experience. Though I still get very anxious on stage, I have discovered that following several calming techniques really works. (FYI, eating bananas always helps calm nerves! And so does imagining everyone in the audience as potatoes!)
3. If you could wake up with a superpower tomorrow, what would it be?
The Power of Invisibility. How cool would it be to be able to observe people do stuff without them ever finding out? And I would also never get interrupted by anyone while I’m writing. Psst, psst! Persistent conversationalists!
4. Share one odd rule or saying that your family has, or had when you were growing up?
You must never call out to someone who’s leaving the house on some errand. It’s a common Indian superstition that stopping someone in this way will lead to them failing in the execution of said errand. So if we must handover something that the person had forgotten to take with them whilst they have just reached the door, we must run towards them and overtake them but must NEVER call out to them.
5. Something you hated as a child that you now love?
Funnily enough, chocolate. Yes, yes, you must think I’m weird. But we usually used to have milk chocolate at home and I hated it so much! I did eventually acquire the taste for it (In fact, that is the case with most of my favorite dishes! I initially hate them until I’ve been forced to eat them so many times with a scrunched nose that I end up loving them.). It was only later, when I tried dark chocolate for the first time that I truly realized how wonderful and delicious it is. And now, I gobble up all the chocolate that I can get my hands on!
6. What is the most delicious food you have ever eaten? (Describe it)
Basically, anything my mother cooks is heavenly. Comfort food, yum! And among her dishes, the best would be either Curry and Rice or Pao Bhaji. ‘Pao’ is a soft bread roll and ‘Bhaji’ is a kind of spicy curry made from several vegetables like potatoes, bottle gourd, tomatoes, pumpkin, carrot, onions etc. It’s actually fast food but the Bhaji seems so healthy that I sometimes forget that fact! (Oh, I’m a vegetarian, just so you know. 😀 )
7. If you were an animal, what would you be, and why?
Probably a squirrel because I jump around so much (Though I’m not that good at running!). I also widen my eyes a lot when I’m surprised and my friends sometimes joke that they fear my eyeballs might pop out of their sockets. (I’m also very often compared to Dobby, the Free Elf from Harry Potter because of my eyes. Hehe!)
8. One little thing that annoys you way more than it should? (aka pet peeve)
Geometric patterns. I keep looking at the lines and figures and create a sort of mental loop where I’m imagining drawing them and as a result, I kind of enter a robot-like state where I can’t think of anything else. It gets very frustrating. I have no idea why this happens, though.
9. If you could magically play one instrument perfectly, which would you choose?
A piano, most definitely! I’ve been crazy about it since I was 8 or 9, I think. It’s such a beautiful thing! A wonderful addition to your living room and such a gorgeous sound! I listen to a lot of piano melodies and my fingers sometimes dance of their own accord while I’m listening. Unfortunately, I’ve never had a chance to learn how to play it.
10. Favourite quote?
Allow me to bombard you with J.K. Rowling’s wise words. There is no choosing favorites among her quotes but here are some of the best.
‘It is our choices that show what we truly are, far more than our abilities.’
“Happiness can be found, even in the darkest of times, if one only remembers to turn on the light.”
‘Of course it is happening inside your head but why on earth should that mean that it is not real?’
11. Share a silly joke that makes you laugh.
A seven-year-old girl was flipping through her parents’ wedding album and asked her mother sadly, “Mom, why wasn’t I invited at your wedding?” To which her mother replied, smiling, “Because you were in my stomach, pumpkin.” The girl frowned and said, “Mom! You ate me?”
The blogs I nominate for the Liebster Award are :
These are the rules :
* Display an image of the award on your blog (Google it, or make your own)
* Thank the person who nominated you, and post a link to their blog.
* Answer the 11 questions that are provided by the person who nominated you.
* Nominate between 5 and 11 other bloggers to receive the award.
* Create 10 or more questions for these nominees to answer.
* Inform those people who are now nominated for the Liebster Award, and provide a link to your post so they can learn more about it.
* List these rules on your blog post, so your nominees can find them.
And my questions for you are :
1. What is your favorite childhood memory?
2. Which is the one place in the world that you’d like to visit (or revisit)?
3. What is your favorite part of blogging?
4. Introvert or extrovert? (Or ambivert? Hehe!)
5. Which is the first book you remember reading? (No textbooks!)
6. The biggest risk you’ve ever taken in your life?
7. One person you find inspiring and why?
8. Do you have any phobias?
9. Ebooks or paperbacks?
10. One thing you love about yourself?
Have fun, beautiful people!
~Diksha
A friend of mine shared this with me and it speaks to me on a cellular level.
Is it true for you too?
When life lands you up in situations where it is impossible to express your emotions, what do you do? When thousands of insane ideas tumble around in your mind, gasping to be let out, what do you do? When a streak of sudden, unintentional creativity serves you up with a beautiful story, what do you do?
My mind muddles up when I think about all the wonderful ways in which people can express their feelings. Tell their story. Or someone else’s. Create something of their own. From nothing. To everything.
A Writer's Cauldron 