Category: Writing

Daily Routine.

A fellow blogger and  well-wisher,  Jean mailed me to ask if all was well with me as I had not been writing blog posts since early October. I had responded with:

“I am hale and hearty and enjoying being a couch potato.

I have not come up with anything to write about recently. I read your posts every day.

Thank you for asking.

Regards.”

Since then I had seriously been considering coming up with some ideas every now and then to blog more regularly and a golden opportunity presented itself with two running holidays for our newspapers following our five day long Deepavali festival.

As my readers know, my morning routine includes reading five newspapers and solving seven crossword puzzles. I was totally lost during the two days when the newspapers did not arrive and was quite frustrated trying to occupy myself with something else. It is a wonder that I survived.

The delivery of daily newspapers recommenced this morning and I am back on even keel. So much so that I indulged myself with a pedicure/foot massage and a hair cut/beard trim/ head massage as I was lucky to find a noon slot with the pedicurist.

I am feeling great with that indulgence and will now give serious thought to finding things to write about more often.

Why I Blog?

Mitch at I’m Just Sharing has reposted a 2014 blog post which took me back to TGOD. I reproduce below exchange of my comments and Mitch’s response.

Me: “So, which of the three categories will my blog fit in? Since I have not given serious thought as to why I write, that will help me decide.”

Mitch: “Actually Rummuser, you condescend to yourself but inside I think you know why you write. You write to get things off your chest; you write to share your life and thoughts with others; and you write for the kinship you get from folks like your Friday tagalong group (okay, I never remember off the cuff what y’all call yourselves lol). You have a unique storytelling style that seems to get people talking; you get way more comments per post than I do. And of course early on you told people this: “Tension nahin lenekka!” You did this during a tense part of your life, which you shared as well. As I say, I think you knew all this; I think it’s a cultural thing that you’re fairly self deprecating when you have no need to be. 🙂”

Me: “Wow! Mitch, that is a mouthful to get off your chest! Thanks. You have just made this wet rainy day over here feel like a million Rupees.”

Which led me to study my blog and I have come up with some interesting statistics.

The first post I wrote in this format was on the 8th of June, 2008.
I have written 3327 posts including this one since then.
There have been a total of 28082 comments and responses from me.

Wow! I am unashamedly impressed with my performance!  Do you think that I am being immodest?

The Other Side Of Seventy.


Mike’s post of the same title inspired this post from me. Please read the comments from me and Mike’s response to it too.

Just a day after that I received this in a WhatsApp message from my sister.

Yesterday afternoon, I received news that my friend, philosopher and guide of many years HI died following a failed chemotherapy session for cancer.

Last week was news of the death of a classmate and dear friend.

On the 10th inst, Nick wrote about biographies and autobiographies. I commented there : “I am not and never was into bio/autobiographies. Somehow, I just could not get interested in that genre. My own kind of biography is perhaps my blog just like yours is yours.” Nick responded with “Yes, blogs are very much a form of biography. Not at all chronological, but revealing all sorts of personal details.”

Little did I know that I was about to read an autobiography, and what a one!

Later yesterday, I received a forward of a video of a Cardiologist talking about life and death and how to manage our lives where he referred to a book called When Breath Becomes Air. I got a Kindle version and started reading it and just could not put it down.

Most of my readers here are senior citizens and quite a few are avid readers. For these, I strongly recommend this book. The most poignant and elegant book that I have ever read about a person’s last days written by himself.

Breaktime – how do you relax when you get a moment?

I have been on permanent break for so long that I have even forgotten when I started.  I have no earthshaking meetings to attend, appointments to keep, or targets to meet and I simply have to live one day at a time and spend my time as entertainingly as possible.

So has my friend Shackman who too retired from active business life many years ago.  That is why it intrigues me that he has come up with this topic for this week’s Friday blog post.

With modern online shopping available to add to my library, life has been made easier further. I don’t have to step out of my home for anything at all.

My life revolves around my set routine about which I have written here. Since I am not involved with any activities that need me to get suited and booted, I spend all my time dressed very comfortably in our native dress and am totally relaxed. I get plenty of excitement from my social media activities, reading and crossword puzzles besides many phone calls. More than enough for me to lead a contented and peaceful life.

My daughter in love and son look after all domestic matters and that too is something that I do not have to concern myself with and worry about. All my comforts are provided for and even the odd shopping that I may want is done by one of them.

All in all, a comfortable and peaceful retired life which I think I have earned after a lot of stress filled times till eight years ago.  I am extremely grateful for my present lifestyle.

Lastly, I am not dressed like that bloke in the image on top.  This is my normal every day look.  Very comfortable and functional for my current lifestyle.

This is my contribution to this week’s Friday 8 On 1 blog post topic. The other seven bloggers who write on the same topic every Friday are Maria. Sanjana, Padmum,  Raju, Shackman , Srinivas and Conrad.  This week’s topic was suggested by Shackman. Please do go over to their respective blogs to see what they have to say on the topic. Thank you.

Friendship And The Social Media.

My childhood friend and neighbour VR posted this image on Facebook.

VR had disappeared from my life in 1958 when my family moved out of Chennai where we were neighbours. She came back into my life thanks to Facebook and her cousin who too came back into my life in 1980 when both of us were posted in Delhi and a mutual friend had brought us together.

I commented on VR’s post as “Thanks to social media in the last few years, many childhood friendships are being renewed too. Perhaps this is the single biggest contribution that sm has made to our lives.”

While social media has played its part in bringing back old friends into my life again, the observation made in the image remains true too. My longest lasting friends, two of them from my boyhood and two from my early working days, survived all separations and have continued to be friends though three of us live in different towns while two in the same city. Alas the last two do not know each other but, the next time that I am in Chennai, I will remedy that situation.

Social media has also brought back groups into my life like classmates, ex colleagues, fellow alumni family etc and to that extent the world has shrunk for relationships.

Another tool that has brought disparate people together is the blog world and this blog by Wisewebwoman brilliantly explains this.

I am blessed indeed to have so many old friends, and more so for long lost ones returning to my life thanks to social media.