Speaking out, why I started writing Blogs?

I crossed the old airport flyover and looked at the dashboard of the car. The time was 11.30 AM.I was satisfied that I would reach my friend’s office about 15 minutes before the scheduled time. We had planned to meet in his office by 12.30 noon.

I was sitting in the very impressive library he had built in his office. 12.30 noon was 15 minutes away. The library had interesting books about travel and places to visit all around the world. I looked around and what impressed me was the book “Soviet architecture”. It was huge. I took it out from the rack, sat on the chair and started admiring the huge buildings in the erstwhile USSR. Tea was served and I became busy reading the stories behind the impressive buildings in Moscow, St. Petersburg, Volgograd, Vladivostok and many other cities.

“Hi Mr. Lenin” my friend said and continued “I knew that you would choose this book. Could you not find a book about happening places? The one on Dubai is very good. Come we shall go to my office room”.

I walked along with him and sat on the chair.

“So what brings you here today?” he asked.

I wanted to go straight to the point. I said “You know very well that I intend to write a book”

“I am hearing this for the past six years”

“This time I am serious”

“OK, is it about Soviet stories?”

“No” I said and continued “Mid life crisis”

He paused and said “I remember you had told me earlier about the plot you want to write”

“I have come here today seeking your advice”

“You want to take up writing seriously?”

“Yes” I told.

“What about your business? You want to pursue writing as a career? It is very crowded out there man. I do not think you can make much money out of it” he said.

“My business is stable and am doing fine in that. I do not intend to change my line of work. I am passionate about writing and not looking at making money from it. This has been at the back of my mind always” I said.

“You want me to help you in publishing the book?”

“In fact I have not given a thought yet about publishing. I want to start and complete it first” I said.

He looked puzzled. He questioned “You are not disturbing your stable business. You do not want any help like publishing the book. Then what has brought you here today? You go ahead and write the book. The world is your canvass. Who is stopping you?”

I felt that I was sounding silly and was not able to convey the message properly to him. Green tea was served. I added sugar to it. My friend commented “you should have Green tea without sugar. You are adding calories to it. You need to cut down such things and become fitter”

I got an alert on my mobile. I looked at it. It was a whats App message from Mahesh Pai. I loved it as it suited the situation. I forwarded it to my friend. He smiled after he received it and said “So near and yet so far and there is a message from you on Whats App”.

He opened the message and read it out “Our body is very wisely designed. We can neither pat our back not kick our own ass. Friends are needed”

He smiled and looked at me. He said “Now I understand why you wanted to meet me. You want to hear some encouraging words from me”.

I nodded.

He continued “Why only pat my friend, you have my hand on your shoulder always”

I replied “I plan to start writing my book from today”.

“How many pages are you planning?”

“About 250 pages”

“Good to hear. What if after you complete 250 pages no one finds it interesting?” he said.

I replied “I did never think of it. What shall I do now?”

He continued “You start blogging. Start writing blogs and share with your friends. Get their feedback and keep improving your writing”

I felt very thrilled at his suggestion. He explained to me about blogger and word press.

I said “today is sixth of November 2014. I shall try to publish my first blog in a week’s time. Thank you for everything”

He replied “I have done nothing”

“Your words have a strong impact on me and am sure that I will come out with good blogs”

On November 14^th I took my son to a competition about English spellings. I keenly observed the people out there and the events that unfolded. Thus my first post in the blog “Narrations” evolved. I published the post about Children competitions on 15^th of November.

Publishing a new post every Saturday became a habit. Slowly but steadily the audience swelled in numbers and I got good encouragement from friends.

After about fifteen more blogs, I started writing about the love story and the mid life crisis of Susan and Pramod.

My friend called me and asked “Are you Pramod of your stories?”

I laughed and said “No man I am not. In fact the characters are very close to my heart and the book I plan to write would be about them”

He said “My dear friend do not delay further. I am very impressed by your style of writing and I like the pictures you choose. They have a sense of nostalgia about them.”

I said “Thank you man. In fact I am starting my book in a week’s time and I have the plot to fill about 250 pages ready in my mind. I shall slow down on my blogs and instead of releasing them every Saturday, will publish them fortnightly.”

He sounded very impressed when he told me “Go ahead my friend.Do not give up writing blogs. The connect will be always with your audience and the feedback will help you in improving each and every time The sky is the limit for you and I wish you all the very best Mr. Bestseller".

I added “If you have built castles in the air your work need not be lost, put the foundation under them. I am laying the foundation now”