… and therefore we blogged. Episode 2

We are starting off the week on the right foot, with much needed coffee and conversations!

Renie writes
Last week, I asked a question about the term “influencers” – here’s what was on my mind! Personally, I’m not a fan of bloggers being called influencers.  I think the word blogger has much deeper connotations than its simple definition of someone who just maintains an online journal.

Most of us have uniquely personal reasons for blogging, and this makes the person behind the blog an integral part of the word “blogger”, just as much as the reach of the blog.

Here’s a thought – Michael Jackson was highly influential, but we don’t refer to him as an influencer, we call him an artist. I feel that “Influencing” is a natural outcome of our creative talent, but it doesn’t become who we are.

What do you think? Let me know in the comments!

 

Karthik remembers

Blogger Meets, 9 years apart

 

Swati says…

10 lessons I learned on Indian highways

I will cut the crap about my tryst with road travel. It should suffice to say that I was uninitiated till 4 years ago and now my butt doesn’t hurt even after 3 days and 1500 kms of riding on a Bullet (which got a backrest for me only a few months ago)!

Through my many sojourns in large groups and alone with Vineet, I have learned to see India in a different light. Some people I have met on these journeys have reminded me how beautiful simplicity is, some highways have acquainted me with how lovely this country is and some unknown towns that I have crossed brought me face-to-face with an India I couldn’t imagine even existed.

Here are a few of my many clicks on these journeys. Each of these photos have taught me something – some are funny lessons and some go beyond the obvious.

• Keep going even when the road ahead is hazy and unpredictable!

Both these photos were clicked on our way to BhorGhat in Maharashtra. Monsoons here are absolutely breathtaking.

• Companionship can come from unexpected places

In Kutch, there’s a big stretch of white dessert on the way to Dholavira, the most prominent archaeological sites in India belonging to the Indus Valley Civilization. We didn’t spot any people for almost 40 kms – which can be unsettling, especially in India where we are used to seeing people everywhere. Imagine our comfort when we saw this guy walking calmly along the highway. It was evident that this place was his home. It was so quiet we could hear nothing but the sound of the bell around his neck, in a slow rhythm. We had stopped to just watch. His presence made us feel comfortable in a scenario where we couldn’t even tell the sky and land from the horizon! #SoWhite

• Brotherhood

This picture was clicked by me at 5:45 am on our way to Lonar, a place famous for its meteor crater lake in Maharashtra.

I have often gone on road trips in big groups like this one. That which makes a team a good team comes out strongly in these groups. Everyone always moves together, looking out for each other. It’s a big thing and can only be experienced in testing times – pouring rains, extreme heat that makes you very irritable or early mornings like these.

• Remember who always leads.

This is the door to a women’s washroom in a highway motel. I keep it handy and flash it to anyone who needs to know that women always lead..in everything.

• Rural India is creative… and enterprising

Checkout ‘Honeymoon Supari’. Love the couple inside the heart. Someone, somewhere thought of this cool way to promote a supari. Probably couples should have it right after they have eaten ‘shaadikaladdoo’?

• Simplicity brings out the best in everything.

I have greatly enjoyed these meals cooked in villagers’ homes along the highways. People we don’t know welcome us and make food right in front of us in exchange of a paltry sum of money. It’s an experience to get the actual taste of rural India, literally!

• Nature is beautiful

For at least 20 minutes I sat close by this mother-son due near Nashik highway on a rainy day. They were so engrossed in expressing their love for each other! In the middle of no-where, amidst lush greenery and silence, these two cared nothing about the chaotic world that I lived in. Nature is so beautiful in its true form.

• India is full of dreams..and hopes

I saw this girl peeping out of a parked bus on a highway in Kutch. She was barely 8 years or so and I was completely taken by her eyes, her attire and the way she didn’t blink but kept staring. What could she be thinking? Where was she going? What’s her story? What does she aspire for in her life? I will never know!

• There’s always another way!

Sometimes Vineet and I ditch the highways and take the village roads. It’s more fun, scenic and lets you avoid heavy vehicles on the way. It’s the same with life. You can always find another way to reach your goal, this other way may turn out to be more fun too!

• There’s more to everything than what meets the eye.

You see, objects in the mirror are closer than they appear 😉

 

Shady visualizes

 Aarushi sees

Coffee Aura

 

Naveen recalls

Roads of life!

If there is one thing which has helped me clear my mind when it’s clouded, has been a short ride on my bike. Don’t know how and when I fell in love with touring on my bike. But the feeling of the wind hitting my face and watching different landscapes changing in front of me is an experience which no 4k or ultra wide videos can replicate. It’s an experience!

The favourite part of riding a bike has to be the point where you are subconsciously riding the bike and you start thinking about things in your life. It’s a feeling where you can actually rewind the past events of your life and analyse it way better. They say that you find solutions to your problems on the road. For me the roads have always given me the answers to the questions in my mind. For anyone else it can be a small trip to thenearby garden, a walk on beach, a weekend trek or a short drive.

If you are at a stage where you feel that you can’t make up your mind or decide on something, just go out. It need not be a bike ride. But most importantly start a journey, go somewhere, get lost. Sometimes getting lost helps you get back on the right track. I firmly believe that our mind is like a nut. It can be broken easily most of the time but sometime it can be broken only with a help of a nutcracker.

And that journey you undertake will be your nutcracker! After all life is all about the choices you make!

 

Behind the scenes with The IndiPirate

Back in the Day… 

Ever wondered what the IndiBuggers blogged about back in the day? Read on!

Renie: http://www.renieravin.com/technology/googles-plans-of-world-domination/55/
Paranoid much?

Anoop: https://zombieanoop.wordpress.com/2010/06/17/vampire-tv-shows-and-i-want-blood/
YES. Anoop publicly promoted The Vampire Diaries. And was proud to.

Karthik: http://www.apathapa.com/apathapa/
Still apathapa-ing through life.

Vineet: https://royalenfielder.me/2009/07/28/butter-chicken-for-dummies/
WARNING: Try this recipe at your own risk. We will not be held responsible for any coronaries.

More to follow in next week’s edition..