Cuatro

Sigh! Late last night I realized my blog turned four and I had to scramble to come up with a celebration. As you can tell, last year wasn't my best blog year. This place was neglected and I wasn't even making an attempt to take good care of it.

Perhaps a birthday is the right season and the right reason to make amends.

So here goes. Many many happy returns of the day my dear blog, and I start the fifth year with a song dedication.

400

400th post, this.

And what do I have to say? Nothing much, really!

Its a significant number nonetheless. That I really had dough enough to make that many posts, in all these years, is definitely noteworthy. So then how do I mark this post? With balloons and some sparkly? With pictures? With a song?

Yes! Song it will be. Because Hans Christian Andersen says 'Where words fail, music speaks.'. Its not surprising I am at a loss for words, right now.

So here's another one of my all-time faves.

Tres

Dear blog

Many happy returns of the day; you turn 3 today. Wow, its kinda hard to believe its been so long. You were started in a very casual manner, my first post here was a review of Zahir. But look at what else I've subjected you to, in these 3 years. You're probably my best sounding board- be it a rant, be it a rave, music, books, 'we are like this only' episodes, colorful pictures that speak a thousand words...you take it all. And without a whimper. You don't protest, you don't object, you don't argue, you don't disagree, you don't criticize- you listen to EVERYthing I have to say, 24x7x365. For that, I salute you. You're also my virtual abode, where I can hang out, chill and stay over for a pajama party.

And thus here we are. You, me and all your readers. You have been a medium through which I have connected to many like-minded folks. You're like this hostess to a very happening party and I am that shy, reserved guest that usually sits pretty in some corner couch sipping diet coke!

I used to search long and hard for a good template for you. A pretty one, that made you look as good as you sounded. And you got a new wardrobe ever so often. Even though it was a painful exercise for me to do some html coding to make you look just right with all the right customizations. You used to host a 'QOTD' and then remember Kabbu?- the virtual pet I adopted from here? Yes, you've been through many many wardrobe changes. Till I found this one. I am mighty pleased with it, I have to say. It lets me change the header, personalize it to my liking and gives me the feeling of shopping for a new dress each time. We all like doing this ever so often now, don't we?

Last summer I tried to outsource you, just to try something new and cos the fact that I had run out of ideas to write about. But regardless of my various attempts to make this space interesting, you're there- rock solid, at all times. Thank you very much for that and can I say how much I look forward to growing old with you? Ever so often I grow through the archives - brings a chuckle or some eye candy or a melody long forgotten- you are a journal of sorts, after all- aren't ya?

Alright my friend, here's a toast to you - to many many more years of endless partying with you.

Happy Birthday!

With best wishes
-Altoid

Dos

2 years
227 posts
9000 visitors
17,000 page views
1,000,000(one million) thanks

To all the readers of this blog- silent, vocal, passersby, lurkers, friends, family and all other animals.
Its been 2 years since this blog came about and hence its time to celebrate.

As I was glancing through the archives I realised that for the first few months of its birth, traffic had been almost non-existent. And then off and on, the only comments have been from SK, so many thanks to her for her continued patronage. Some months later, Seren came along, leaving encouraging comments. Thus, slowly, steadily the readership has come to what it is now.

I have declared this to go in my all-time feel-good movie list. As many times as I watch the movie and its songs, it never fails to cheer me up. So I share it with you, my dear readers, as we settle down to celebrate this special mile marker in blogdom. Grab something to drink, some munchies, settle down comfortably and enjoy!

Ha, hai koi toh wajah, jo jeene ka mazaa yoon aane laga
Yeh, hawaaon mein hai kya thoda sa jo nasha yoon chhaane laga
Poocho na poocho mujhe kya hua hai teri raahon mein aakar
Poocho na poocho mujhe kya milega teri baahon mein laakar
Yeh ishq hai, baithe bithaaye, jannat dikhaaye haan, O Raama....

Uno

I honestly believe photography is as much art as watercolor or oil. Any medium that is used to depict beauty in everyday life is just as artful than any.

And so, just as silently as it came into existence-with no birth announcement or fanfare, sneaking in surreptitiously "it" has turned one. I mean my blog and I also find this to be my 100th post as I make this whimper of an announcement.

When "it" started there was no category to file it into, the owner had stumbled upon this world quite by accident and quite late in the game. Like Alice in wonderland, herein was a world with blogs in every category, rewards for the best in each one, friendships and communities being made, a new social networking that had risen and all so suddenly and rapidly that the owner felt quite archaic to be finding it this late in the technological calendar.

Be that as it may, this space is largely unpublicized, and was started as a medium to talk about some of the owner's interests such as movies, books, music , photography and surprisingly travel(objection sustained, there hasn't been much action in that front) and all and sundry in between. Unlike other blog(ger)s the owner is unaware of the likes or dislikes of the target audience that reads this blog. But blog hopping has led the owner to a wide variety of blogs-literary, humorous, mommy land, baby land and so on and so forth and has definitely been an interesting adventure.
Except for a handful of them, there might not even be too many visitors. The owner doesn't believe in showcasing personal trials and triumphs and/or debating on controversial topics, to that extent this could be a private journal. It could also serve as a calendar of sorts.
For most part, visitors that stray here might find it to be quite a "normal" and mundane blog(ho hum perhaps!). But for the ones that do emerge to leave comments as well as for the lurkers that silently endorse this space, this post is a small and humble token of appreciation . For those anonymous'ers that have left comments commending the good work and requesting that the owner continue to do the same going forward, thank you and welcome.

On that note, all ye come, grab a berry, pour yourself some bubbly, unwind and lets clink glasses- if not anything else spring is just around the corner, those skirt lengths will soon shrink, smelly socks and heavy boots will vanish.

Its a tiny landmark but nonetheless lets toast for many more of these small, simple and cozy pleasures.