500 posts and a photo journey down the memory lane.

Today is a rather special day. There are several reasons , the most important two being

1.My second book hit the Delhi book stores today!

2.This is my 500th post!!

Five hundred posts is a lot. It has been 4 years and 4 months since I started this blog. My life has changed such a lot in these four years—something that I never even imagined or thought possible even in my wildest dreams. It has meandered, curved, taken a path I would never even have known was an option. Yet, here I am today, a published author of two books and third and fourth in the pipeline. (Yes , I am already halfway through my third book!)

Most people who have read my first book (incidentally it is a national best-seller having sold more than 24000 copies and still counting) know how I got here. They know how deeply my dad’s sudden death affected me.  I had no one to talk to and even those I considered ‘good friends’ suddenly got busy when they saw a grief stricken shattered side of me, which was rather inconvenient to them.

Four years back, if you had told me that I will make a new set of even better friends, I would have been a cynic laughing sceptically at you. Yet, time has proved otherwise. I couldn't help feeling nostalgic today and I went and looked at some old pictures.

Since pictures speak louder than words, I thought I’d take you back through the annals of time with some pictures to see how I got here:

 

This was how I looked in November  2006, a month after I started the blog. I had just lost my dad and was shell shocked, depressed, grief stricken. (I don't have any pictures from October or September that year as I was too depressed to click any pictures) I had very short hair back then. (In fact I had short hair for nearly 9 years. I never thought I'd grow my hair)

 You can see my daughter in the background. She was just five then. I do not remember where we were driving to. But I remember stopping for the cup of tea. This is one of the few pictures where I am not smiling.

That same year I went paragliding. My dad's sudden death had left me so shaken that I wanted to truly LIVE each day, as I realised for the first time, how truly unpredictable life is. It was a marvellous experience. Yes, it is me in both these pictures.

From January 2007 to March 2007, I painted like a maniac. I churned out pictures after pictures. I was at my creative best. They remain to this day, some of my most bizzare, original and creative work. I did not know till that point in time,  how much depth really existed in me. Here is one of my favourite painting from that time.

(To see more click here and click on 'paintings from the heart' and 'mixed media collages')

That same month, I won my first International blogging award. I was thrilled to bits. It was the first time, someone was recognising my writing skills and appreciating it. I had never been published before and I remember how much I longed to see my name in print.

I got my chance in December 2007. By then, I had won quite a few blogging awards. I approached a local newspaper and offered to write for them. My first assignment was a 500 word piece that I had to write on 'Calendars'. I remember thinking "Oh my God--Five hundred words..How will I ever write?"  Today, I can churn out five hundred words in less than 15 minutes. But back then, it looked impossible.

I couldn't believe it when my first article was published. ( Yes! That truly was my name in PRINT!) and I was even more elated when I got my first pay cheque from writing. 

I went on to write for Times of India and Readers Digest. (I must have written  more than a 100 articles). Around this time, my poetry (again born out of deep pain) was published in a book by Sulekha series (called 'Sisters in rhyme').

I travelled to UK in September 2007. I had no idea then, that I would actually shift to UK a year later. I met Niall in person for the first time. Till then we had only exchanged mails. 

This picture was clicked in front of Tower of London.

And this is me, meeting Niall for the first time.

And that was how I looked in  November 2007. (And that is my niece).

 Time flew and I continued writing and painting.
This is a picture of me clicked in January 2008, while I was painting a picture.

In June 2008 I travelled to Egypt. I loved it

By now my writing had really taken off. Several pieces I wrote were chosen for the 'Chicken soup for the soul' series. I had also written for Delhi Press! Many magazines now carried articles by me.


In October 2008, it was indeed a BIG moment in my life, when '34 Bubblegums and Candies' was published.

I was fortunate to get some excellent reviews from almost ALL the major newspapers. (click here to read what they said).

Suddenly there was the Press calling me up! They wanted to interview me. They clicked my pictures. They wrote down what I said. People wanted my autograph on books. Some wanted to click pictures with me!  The people in the book stores recognised me when I walked in.  I was  now a 'celebrity'.

As the book began doing well, loads of mails started pouring in. Two pieces I wrote were published in a book called 'Woman--many hues, many shades' and my name appears on the cover with eminent writers like Khushwant Singh and Taslima Nasreen.

By now Satish's career had taken a turn too. We moved to the UK. It was an enormous change in our lives. The kids were uprooted from India and thrust into a completely new culture and world. They took to it like ducks to water.

I got an excellent chance to do an internationally recognised degree in portraiture. I enrolled for a course and threw myself into my art. Side by side, I was also working on my second book. Satish was very supportive. He handled everything at home whenever I had an assignment to work on.This is Satish and me--one of my favourite pictures. This was in February 2010 in Cromer, UK.

One of my closest friends Ajay (whom I have mentioned several times on this blog by now) kept pushing me to write.(This is a picture of me and him. This was in December 2009 on my birthday)

My birthday in 2009 was a truly memorable one. I spent it in India. (I was based in the UK then) with my closest friends.


I continued working on my second book and on my portraiture course through out 2010.My first book had started doing really well  and I began getting TONNES of fan mail.


My portraits began getting more and more realistic. I started accepting commissions! My hard work had really paid off.  Here are two  of my all time favourite portraits(Keira Knightley and Jim Morrison).

In October 2010, we relocated back to India. We moved to Bangalore where we are now based. It took us more than two months to find a home, to get our stuff shipped, to find a good school for kids  and fully settle down.

December 2010 saw yet another birthday of mine-and this was just as lovely as the last one.Click here to read about it. (and yes--that is a a picture of me on my birthday in December 2010. Again one of my favourite pics)



And today, on the day of my 500th Post (oh, what a long, long journey it has been!), my publisher called me to tell me that my second book has hit the book stores in Delhi!! Several people who had pre-ordered the book from Flip-Kart called me up to tell me that they had just received it.


It was truly a HUGE moment.

Today as I sit back, the enormity of my second book coming out, is slowly sinking in.

I think back to that day in October 2006, when I so hesitatingly started a blog. I was so scared then of even revealing my identity, online.

Yet, treading on an unknown path has taken me on a real adventure. I have reached an entirely different place with no clue or no definite plan. I have been just swept along, (propelled of course, by determination and hard work.)

And to think it all began with one single little blog post.

___________________________________________________

[Click  here to take part in some super discussions where there will be a chance to win a signed copy of both my books. (The winner of discussion 'can you change destiny' was announced today)]