10 YEARS IN SANITY

My Blog - Scripted In Sanity completed 10 years today.

I cannot believe that a decade passed by so fast.

These 10 years have been special. In these 10 years, I broke my heart a million times, experienced a million moments of bliss, witnessed a number of life-changing events unfold, underwent twists & turns and peaks & troughs in a life that otherwise used to be quite uneventful.

The result of these events? 219 posts in all!

What has changed in these 10 years? There were many bloggers and readers who joined in the (In)Sanity, and motivated me (directly and indirectly) to keep going. Some of them are still around, some of them got lost along the way, while some have chosen new paths and trails. But they've all left footprints in special places somewhere.

What hasn't changed? My resolve to keep writing!

I would like to thank many people.

Nidhi Bagur (SSNAB) for being the blogger and friend who first introduced me to the world of Blogging and helped me create my blog (it was then known as Dreams Arena). She's among the ones who unfortunately stopped blogging herself.

Pranay Sethi who helped me with my very first blog banner. Pranay's blog has been long-dormant as well.

Ninitha Koya who was among the first to help me build the Bloggeratti bloggers' community way back in 2008, during the Orkut days. She was not around when I recreated Bloggeratti on FB. She seems to have quit blogging around 2013.

Pooja Kale for being the first blogger to collaborate with me for a contest. She last updated her blog in 2012.

The Nothingman / Pallav for being a master of the Weird / Twisted Short Stories genre of writing, and being a great influence. Thankfully, he not only blogs, but has also authored 2 books.

Alisha Das for influencing me with her versatility - short stories, poetry (English and Hindi), random musings, et al. I knew her since she was a teenager, and what a talented teenager she was! She sang like a dream as well. Sadly (for me), she got into film-making and seems to have stopped writing in 2015.

Red Handed for being a great influence in the Humour genre. I kid you not, not many people have ever gotten to know her true identity. Unfortunately, she seems to have vanished around 2016. Boy, how I miss her writing!

Purba Ray for being another big influence in the humour genre. I had the privilege of meeting her at an IndiBlogger event in 2015, where she was one of the Key Speakers; and she called me out by my name during her session. That definitely was an honourable and humbling experience for me, and I thank her immensely. Her blog is going strong and is one of the most popular blogs in India.

Kriti Sharma for being a long-time and long-distance friend and continuing to encourage me. I got a chance to meet her on one of my visits to Delhi in 2016. She got married early this month, and I wish her a happy married life. Kriti, by the way, last updated her blog in 2013, and deserves a rap on her knuckles for neglecting her blog ;)

Rohini Dutta helped me cope with my pre-MBA jitters and on the personal front, way back in 2008. She would take great pains to mail me soft copies of Management books and reference material...I must admit I only downloaded them and didn't bother reading. We would spend hours chatting and doodling crappy stuff on Yahoo Messenger's IMVironment (that was such a wonderful feature). She was like this overprotective elder sister, who wanted her kid brother to succeed by all means. Sadly though, we lost touch after she got a job and I started my MBA course, sometime around 2009. Although she is now married and settled in Mumbai, we have never met. She stopped blogging in 2010.

Last, but not the least, my wife Cheryl, for allowing me to sit on my big hairy ass for hours on end and to shirk domestic chores to come up with write-ups, sometimes not worth the effort. She is my gentlest critic, and thinks I am the best writer in the whole wide world. What more can a writer ask for?

Of course there are many more bloggers I have met along the way, and who are responsible for what I am today (not just as a blogger). However, it is impossible to name them all. I would, therefore, simply wish them all the very best. You guys know who you are.

Here's looking forward to the coming 10 years. Also hoping that I start influencing people for a change.

Cheers,

CRD