Mommy@shravmusings

3 Lessons to be learned from Manasi Joshi – BWF Para-Badminton Champion #WATWB

Even before PV Sindhu made headlines with her fantastic play and Gold medal in BWF World Championship, another sportsperson Manasi Joshi silently created the history in the BWF World Para-Badminton championships the previous day.

But unfortunately, Manasi Joshi has not got the limelight, she deserved from our Media. But with the advent of Social Media, Manasi became the overnight darling for most of them. And there are lot of lessons, one could learn from her story.

“I earned it. Worked every bit for it,” she tweeted on Tuesday.

Biography of Manasi Joshi

Manasi was born like every other normal kid and started playing Badminton during her school days. Though she played in various tournaments in state and national levels, Badminton was never her profession. She concentrated in her studies and completed her B.Tech degree from the Mumbai university. Her favorite subjects are Science and Computers. Manasi always dreamt of achieving something big in either of these fields. She got through campus placement and started working as a software Engineer in ATOS India company.

But then fate took her life and ambitions into its hand as Manasi met with a head-on collision with a heavy truck in 2011. Due to the medical complications that came up in her treatment, the doctors have decided to amputate her left leg. She had to stay back for around 50 days and returned back home with a prosthetic leg.

She has to start how to use her prosthetic leg and have to restart her walking exercises. In the meantime, she started working back again ATOS India. But being a sportsperson from her childhood, she was worried more about her fitness and her exercise routines. She was not sure, what can do with her prosthetic leg.

In the meantime, ATOS conducted a badminton tournament for its employees and Manasi has participated in that tournament though unwillingly at first, but have won it. Then that’s her turning point in life. It was an eye opener for her of sorts, and she has decided to turn the Shuttle Badminton into her profession. She started playing the league matches.

Lessons I learned from Manasi Joshi:

Inner Strength:

Most of us, the common people would sit and cry when fate deals with a rough hand. All of us start dwelling in self-pity and self-doubts. In this whole process, we start losing ourselves. But Manasi is one person, who never wallowed in self-pity, but she became an example for many with her hard work and determination.

The way, she has accepted her disability and moved forward is highly motivational. Please listen to her TED talk here to understand more about her.

Determination to achieve something:

Once Manasi decided to play the badminton at a professional level, the road ahead was not easy for her. As the prosthetic leg that was fitted to her was only for walking purposes and not definitely for quick movements that are needed in the badminton courts.

Manasi had to sit with her medical doctor’s team and get her prosthetics changed as per her need. Also, she has to work hard to keep her body fit and healthy. She has to watch for her weight gain and improve the flexibility in all the muscles.

Since, Manasi has already made up her mind to acheive her gold in the para-badminton championships, all this hard work never stopped or bothered her.

Hard work:

Though she started participating in the para-badminton championships from 2013, her first entry into the international para-badminton championship matches happened only in 2015 in mixed doubles match. She grabbed a silver medal in 2015.

But she was not satisfied with her doubles game, as Manasi grew up watching and idolizing Steffi Graff, who used to rule the Tennis courts once upon a time. So Manasi started her taking part in the singles matches.

She joined under Gopichand Sir (same coach for PV Sindhu as well). She had a rigorous practice session with her coaches. They have created a special yet grueling training routines for her. Though she was not used to this hard work, she believes that this is what has made her stand against her tough competitor Parul. She used to work in three sessions a day to stay fit and ahead in the game.

Knowing Manasi, she wouldn’t be stopping here itself. She would definitely scale higher peaks in her chosen profession. We wish all the very best to Manasi Joshi and salute her for commendable performance in this year’s women’s singles SL3 final of the BWF para-badminton championship.

Manasi Joshi is a true inspiration for today’s kids who are in real search of true heros, apart from the television and movies in the real life.

This post is part of the We Are the World Blogfest, a monthly blogging event created by Damyanti Biswas and Belinda Witzenhausen to showcase stories of hope and light.

“We Are the World Blogfest” which seeks to promote positive news. Sharing these stories that show compassion and the resilience of the human spirit increases our awareness of hope in our increasingly dark world. My cohosts for this month are: Shilpa Garg,Simon Falk , Damyanti Biswas, Lizbeth Hartz and Eric Lahti.

To check more such positive stories, please click here.

The Greatest ICC World Cup and its lessons

After the long 7 week schedule of 48 matches between the world’s best teams and the nail-biting, wonderful neck to neck final in Lords on last Sunday with super overs and super excitement, the cricket fever has gone down and cricket conversations have been replaced with other trending and burning topics. But that’s not the case in my house, as the cricket is still going on and all thanks to #Hotstar, the highlights and replays are still being played 24X7 in my house and my kid is still crying along with Virat and Kane. So thought of listing down the lessons he is learning from them in this greatest ICC World Cup

Playing under pressure:

Out of all the 48 matches, the people who stood out as stars are the people who shined in the death overs and didn’t get crushed under the pressure. Most of the players shined at the start of the match or in the middle, but very few were there, who rose to the occasion and bailed out their teams from the tricky situation like Stokes from England team in the final, or like Jadeja from the Indian team.

Most of the kids these days are running away from problems and the in-depth analysis from child psychologists point towards us, the parents, as we never put our kids under those stressful situations, as we were always rushing to save the kids from tricky situations. So these matches are good examples for us to build the growth mindset into our kids.

Importance of Fitness & Diet:

In almost all the matches, the players are seen with bandaids/bandages across their arms and legs. But those wounds never deterred them to slide across the field or jump to catch the balls. We can see All this can be possible, only if they are really fit and sound. In fact, some of the players have mentioned about their fitness routines also in their interviews with the media. Luckily for me, my kid’s favorite player Burmah has even mentioned about the healthy diet regime he follows. So this is one lesson, which we have to inculcate in our kids and take them away from the junk foods. Nowadays, eating junk foods has become a fad and kids are shying away from healthy foods.

In case, if you remember the Afghanistani batsman (#Shahidi) getting hurt and even after being advised to retire back hurt, how he continued batting. Same is the case with the Australian wicketkeeper and batsman (Carey). Even after getting hurt badly on the chin, he kept on playing in the semi-final. Both these players displayed the grit and determination to play for their teams even after getting hurt badly. This, in turn, proved to be a good lesson for my kid about the will power and determination required to be successful in life.

Alex Carey Gets Injured by Jofra Archer Bouncer During ICC Cricket World Cup 2019 2nd Semi-Final Between England-Australia | WATCH VIDEO — Picture Credit: India.com

Human Emotions:

If we look at the match at a very high level, its nothing but a binary game and there would be only winners and losers that’s all. But the heart of the game lies in the human emotions that get played along with the sport. There would be grit and determination to win on one side. But the true sportspersons will never be far from the emotions like empathy and encouragement. Though they are winning, encouraging the other team to give their best can be seen very clearly in this world cup series.

As this being Malinga‘s last world cup series, and India vs Sri Lanka his last match, though, for the spirit of cricket, Indians were seen hitting Malinga’s balls to boundaries, but at the same time, talking to him and cheering him as well. Same is seen, in the gesture of Stokes during the final, when England got 6 runs from an overshot ball. These are the lessons, I would like my kid to carry forward. Empathizing with the other party and encouraging them to give their best to the game. There were no scenes of angry outbursts during the defeating moments nor there were unprofessional displays of celebrations. All we could see were the dignified moments of glory and defeat.

My Kid has learned that it’s OK to feel sad for the defeat, but there would be another day to showcase his talent. At this moment, he has to congratulate the winner. This behavior was exemplified by the dignified behavior of Kane Williamson and Virat Kohli too. So how to manage one’s emotions is the lesson learned from this series. Another important lesson he learned during this #ICC World Cup series is the way cricketers were behaving respectfully towards senior players.

As a mom, I am happy that my kid has learned a couple of important life lessons from the entire series and we got to witness the greatest cricket ever played. Maybe we might not witness the super overs again, but we do remember and recall Kane Williamson and Morgan during every world cup final. They both have proved time and again that Cricket is indeed a gentle man’s game.

Top 7 lessons from ICC Worldcup 2019 for my kid

As the ICC Worldcup Cricket fever has gripped out the entire nation, even my 6-year-old kid wasn’t spared from this fever. I was kind of amused to see him talk and breathe only cricket from last 15 days. Anyone who visits my house these days is forced to have to serious cricket talk with him and no kid talk is allowed. Even the people who don’t have interest in Cricket are not spared from my kid’s lessons on the ICC world cup, various teams playing in it and how each team is unique in their styles.

All he started talking these days are the yorkers and clean sweeps. He breathes, eats and dreams only about Cricket nowadays. He is still not clear as to what would he like to become, a batsman, or a bowler. Even Umpiring and commentary seems to interest him these days.

Lessons ICC World Cup — ICC World Cup Cricket 2019

I am very happy to say that, Cricket has taught him a few of the tricks and he is able to spend hours together playing as the bowler or the fielder. This independent play is something I could only dream off but never was able to achieve it till date. All I could do these days is to just hope and pray, that he doesn’t hurt himself while imitating the fielders from the matches. Already he hurt his upper lip while doing a flip to catch an imaginary sixer from Rohit. The lip got swollen and he couldn’t eat properly for two days. But believe me, it didn’t dampen his spirits. Instead, now he uses his gymnastics mat as the field so that he wouldn’t get hurt.

The Top 7 lessons my kid learned from ICC Worldcup are as follows, which are in fact the skills for the life:

Patriotism:

This time in all the World Cup matches, the national anthems of both the competing nations were played after the toss. Being a curious boy, my kid started identifying not only those nations geographical locations in the world map, but he started identifying their national anthems as well. This has helped him in appreciating our national anthem more. Respecting our national anthem is the first step towards the patriotism. These matches not only made my kid a patriot, but they have given him a chance to appreciate the uniqueness of each and every nation.

Sportsman spirit:

Earlier, before the start of the ICC World Cup, like any other typical single kid, my kid always wanted to win and used to cry if he gets lost. But seeing the teams appreciate their opponents for a well-played sixer or a good catch made him understand that the true sportsman would appreciate the other players too. The player’s behavior in these matches has changed his thinking and he started appreciating the opponents as well. No wonder, Cricket is called the “Gentleman’s Game” in earlier days.

Team spirit:

Working in teams and appreciating the other team members was seen at its best in this ICC World Cup 2019 series. People waiting for the other batsman to complete his half a century or willingly giving the chance to hit the last shot of the game to the other person was seen very clearly in this game. Even a small kid of mine could understand this and started asking me questions. So the “Me First” syndrome has been completely erased from my kid’s brain by watching this series.

Leadership skills:

Captains of all the teams across the board have shown excellent leadership skills in this series. Noteworthy here is the Virat’s communications with his team when India is bowling and the way the fielders and bowlers were delivering as per his guidance. The way, Kohli was stepping out of the limelight, to give his team member’s that place is very commendable and it really gave me a chance to explain about the leadership qualities to my kid.

Importance of Rigorous Practise:

The way, cricketers were moving across the field very fluidly and taking the flips and falling on to the ground for catches, shows their body fitness. This, in fact, stresses the importance of the regular practice as otherwise, the cricketers wouldn’t be in form. Even in one of the interviews, I think an Afghanistan player mentioned that they should have practiced more to avoid that day’s trouble in one of the matches they played. That got imprinted into my kid’s mind. Even Bumrah mentioned how hard he practices regularly in one of his interviews. Bumrah being my kid’s all-time favorite, he started taking his words very religiously and now I can see him practice hard.

Working under pressure:

The death overs are the perfect examples of how each and every individual behaves when they have to work under pressure. As usual, there are few people who bow down to this pressure, and there are a few examples who wouldn’t loose their cool even when the pressure is standing in front of them. They play really so well amidst the audience shouts and the pressure of winning the match. Playing with concentration is one thing that even a small kid could observe as an important trait that’s needed for a true sports person.

Adherence to Diet:

Fortunately, this time around the cricketers when giving interviews was talking about how strict they are about their diet and how important a healthy diet is for their overall performance. Years of my hard work to convince my kid to eat healthy food has been made easy due to this series.

I couldn’t believe myself, that a series of Cricket matches can play a vital role in the development of my kid and teach him the important lessons of life, which as a parent, was trying to teach for so long. I guess this incident reiterates the importance of sports during the student’s life. No wonder they say

A Healthy body leads to Healthy Mind and playing Sports leads to Healthy Body

Lessons from ICC World Cup 2019 for my Kid

The need of the Hour – Rainwater Harvesting

Water is the lifeline of all the living beings and that is a known fact which no one can deny it. But are we really respecting and giving it the correct priority that water deserves? Are we really harvesting all the rainwater that’s bestowed on us?

When the Well’s dry, we know the WORTH of the WATER – Benjamin Franklin

Our elders have known this fact that without water, no one can survive and that’s the reason why water has given the status of a God. If you happen to refer to our ancient scriptures or the daily rituals of our ancestors, you can easily understand the significance of water. All the rivers were given human forms and are worshipped once in twelve years (calling it as pushkarams) and early morning we offer water to our deities while saying our prayers (Anjali – taking water in our both hands and dropping it down while praying to the god).

But we as an entire nation, have developed a very callous attitude towards the water and were wasting/polluting the water without even giving a second thought. So now we are at a junction, wherein we as the entire nation would face an acute shortage of water in the next 5 years. That is the reason, why even our honorable Prime Minister has addressed this water shortage and the importance of its conservation in his first Mann ki Baat season 2.0, address last weekend.

We are only utilizing only 8% of the rainfall every year with the help of dams that have been constructed by the government. But most of the rainfall falls in the so-called urban jungles, where the rainwater just flows down from our apartment/house terraces into drainage canals as we are not using any of it. If we can harvest this rainwater, our urban cities would never have a shortage of water. Are we into this game for the rainwater harvesting this year at least, before a major drought is going to hit us?

There are very simple to complex Rainwater harvesting systems and based on how your house is located. We can use this rainwater falling on our terraces and recharge our borewells. We can build a big sump to store this water, or we can simply store them into our buckets and barrels.

I am giving a few of the simple tips which we have implemented in our house for the rainwater harvesting. Last week, we had a small rainfall in Chennai city for around 30-45 minutes. With the right apparatus in place, we are able to harvest 350 liters of water for from that rainfall. Don’t you think it’s incredible?

We have an empty area on our headroom on the terrace, which is of 50 SQFT. What we did it, is to capture the water that falls on the top of the headroom alone into a water tank and we use it for watering our plants. This 350 liters of water is sufficient for us to water our organic terrace garden for three/four days post the rains. The overall total cost for this setup is around 5000 rupees. But with this setup, we are able to save 1000 liters during the monsoon.

Rainwater Harveting, Need of the Hour, shravmusings — The need of the Hour – Rainwater Harvesting

This man from Chennai has also saved water just like us with an expense that’s far below us. He has saved 225 liters within 10 minutes of rain for an expense of just 250 rupees. Isn’t it wonderful?

So when are you taking up the rainwater harvesting exercise in your apartments, houses? A Lot of people, have proved time and again that we really don’t need huge investments nor the support of the government to become sustainable. We as individuals have to decide and start the movement and then things would start happening. That is what even our dear Prime Minister has stated.

Another example of this theory is Mr. Solar Suresh who has a completely independent house in Chennai, wherein he doesn’t even depend on the government agencies for power, water, nor drainage. Please click here to read my earlier blog about him.

I just hope that this small article of mine would give you enough encouragement to save some water using simpler rainwater harvesting techniques at your home if not on the bigger scale. Please let me know how you are planning to implement the rainwater harvesting in your house in the comments below.

5 Routines to spend Quality time with Kids during School days

Most of the schools have opened back post the summer holidays to add to the stress of parents, especially the moms. As parents, we are always with our schedules and our deadlines. So when we are neck-deep in completing one task after the other, obviously the time spent with the kids would be taking a toll.

But most of the moms say that they always spend my time with the kids, cooking for them, making them do their homework and various other projects/assignments, driving them and back to the extra classes. So, where is the need for extra quality time and where do we find that extra time? And dads argue that most of their time is spent only in the office as they have to work hard so that they can support their families. As per their argument, its tough survive in the office, considering how competitive the world has become. But kids are the ones who are getting neglected in this whole process. And they still won’t have the way to express their inner needs which is to spend quality time with their parents.

Qualitytime, Kids, Parenting, Tips, Routines, Schooldaysroutine, shravmusingswrites — How to Spend Quality Time with Kids during the School Sessions

More and more studies show that the parents who spend their time with the kids on a one on one basis, have a better connection with their kids and the kids are less prone to the problems during their teenage (which is very crucial for them). This quality time improves the kid’s self-confidence and self-esteem. So here are my simple tips that will enable all the parents to spend their time with the kids.

Morning Routine:

As soon as the kid wakes up as the natural instinct, the kid would be searching for his mom and that’s the time when as a mom, we have to give our undivided attention to the kid for just 5 minutes with the kid, cuddling them and if they are ready for the morning exercises, involve them for few stretches and squats. If they are not ready for exercises, listen to the soothing music in the morning just by sitting next to the kid. All this takes just 5 minutes.

Before the School Routine:

While sending the kid to the school, preparing him for the day ahead is of utmost importance, as the kid needs to face the world without you and have to continuously concentrate on learning in the schools. So it’s the time for you to be creative in inventing a fun routine to spend time with the kid. It can be a song or a small dance number which you would like to do with your kid. Or at least a small prayer to keep the day going.

After the School Routine:

While picking up the kid from school, set aside all your work and devote some time completely to the kid. Instead of hurrying them to change the uniform and send them to other activities, please spend those 5 minutes, unwinding along with the kid by doing his favorite activity. This time would definitely set the mood for the entire evening for him.

Bedtime rituals:

Bedtime rituals are a must in each and every family. Instead of letting the kid fall asleep on his own, read him a story or sing a lullaby to him. Have a pillow talk with him, when all the lights are switched off in the room. This is the time when you can really boost his confidence by providing positive suggestions. Even if the corrections are required in the kid’s behavior, do positively tell him. Positive suggestions get implemented faster than negative suggestions and corrections.

Weekend Routine:

The weekend is the time, where you can build a few family traditions into your family. Take the help of kids, plan the weekend nights (it can be a movie night or dinner outside in the garden or camping out in the night, sleepover in other rooms of the house, game nights). Plan stuff, which you also can enjoy. If nothing else works out for you, at least try and learn an activity along with the kids. Kids enjoy playing a teacher role to the parent.

Time flies very fast and it’s on us as parents to steal a few chunks of time from our busy schedule, so that we can have our quality time with the kids. So that the kids could have wonderful memories to recollect in the later stages of their life. These memories are the ones which would drive our kids to have stronger connections with their kids so that life comes full circle back with our grandchildren.

Author Interview: Kumar Parameswaran

Today, we are planning to introduce our another travel author, who has decided to write a book on Indian Railways and how traveling in Indian Railways can be your next adventure in #BlogchatterEbook Carnival. He is none other than our Kumar Parameswaran. Before we start our chit chat with Kumar, please find below the earlier interviews:

1st interview – “Abhijit ray” author of “Desert Plant”
2nd interview – “Meena Chatty” author of “Starlit Sky”
3rd interview – “Pratibha” author of “Eco Babycare & Green Parenting.
4th interview – “Varsha” author of “Konkan Diaries”
5th interview – “Geethica” author of “Thoughts and Conversations – Cafes in and around Delhi”
6th interview – “Saba Irfan Ladha” author of “With Love, yours Hatefully”
7th interview – “Darshana Sarmah” author of “Put your best foot forward”
8th interview – “Anand Narayanan” author of “Flowered Bytes”
9th interview – “Pooja Priyamvada” author of Mental Health Primer
10th interview – “Surbhi Prapanna” author of Creative Kids
11th interview – ” Sudip Saha” of Tech Know Logy
12th interview – “Ginia Basu” of Easy Home Cooking
13th interview – “Jyotrimoy Sarkar” of Being in Love – Half Fiction Series

OK, coming back to our author of the day, Mr. Kumar, read further to find out what ticks him going and his love for travel.
Us: What inspired you to start blogging?

Kumar: It was while working on the business plans for a homestay venture, that I bumped into the idea of doing travel blogging, especially after reading a lot of blogs by yourstory.com. I knew it was a way to find traction with similar minds.

Us: Can you please describe your blogging journey so far? And who are your biggest supporters

Kumar: The journey has been very slow paced, but the boost I got from the community of readers has been tremendous.

I have managed to climb to DA 14, PA 28 and Alexa Rank 620000 in a span of 1-1/2 years. My cumulative page views are around 1000 plus per travel blog post, and the bounce rate has been less than 20% and pages viewed has hovered between 2 or 3 per visit.

Us: Why did you register for the A2Z challenge?

Kumar: The urge to move forward and to build pace in my writing and confidence levels, plus it was part of the creative writing course that I had enrolled in.

Us: How it feels like to be called “Author”?

Kumar: The term author is something alien to me, and I have not been comfortable with it. Still I am trying to come to terms with it, and hopefully, it will get ingrained in me, by the time I write my next book.

Us: What is the key learning for you from this Blogger to Author journey?

Kumar: Creative writing is one thing tried to learn and develop as part of this journey from blogger to author.

Us: Do you want to share any interesting stuff on this book, which has not been captured in the book?

Kumar: A decade of Mumbai local train travel experiences have been something that I didn’t write in the book. For anyone traveling during peak hours, its a true test of the lungs, to stay breathing till your destination arrives and survive the crush of another kind.

Us: Do you want to share any future plans for your blog and books with us?

Kumar: Future plans for my blog would be to get to 50 blog posts by Dec 2019, and begin my thought process for my next book, as a compilation of my travel journey experiences.

Us: How is your overall feeling on Blogchatter’s carnival and what are your recommendations for other bloggers?

Kumar: Blogchatter Carnival is one of the best things to have happened to me, and came at the right time, to boost my abilities to put in 500 words in a single day. That confidence will stay for good. A must for newbie bloggers.

So, friends, hope this interview with Kumar was entertaining for you and you got to know little more about him. In case you want to grab the copy of his wonderful book “Here’s why your train journey could turn a quirky adventure“, then it is here for you all.

My co-host Pragun has done a candid review of the book “Here’s why your Train Journey could turn into a Quick Adventure” and you can find the review here.

Book Review – Being in Love – Half Fiction Series

Fiction is one genre, one would normally reserve to read on an easy or a tiring day to relax, and I was initially thinking what would Half Fiction series would contain. Maybe the author’s experiences laden with some stories or stories peppered with the author’s experiences. So I decided to find that out and picked up this book for my review.

Review:

As the name series indicates, this is just not one long story, but actually divided into 26 short stories. Interestingly, all these stories are intervened with each other and the way the author introduces main protagonists using the missing person’s announcements at a fair is really innovative and make us understand the pain of Rahul (our hero) and how he misses the heroine.

Though the pace is a little slow to my liking, the breakups and the love and the sequences between the characters have been described well. So the reader could feel the pain of the main protagonists.

Pros:

The author just doesn’t stop himself with the story, but he really digs deep into the psychology of love and explains the different behaviors of the lovers at different points of time in the journey called love.

Cons:

Some of the analogies he has given in the book ran dry on me, though it made me smile, I felt like some other analogy could be used. Same goes with Shayaris. Few of them are really the best, but few didn’t gel well.

About the Author:

Jyotrimoy Sarkar is one of those passionate bloggers and writers who have already published various anthologies and is well known for his shayaris. We can find his blogs at “Racing Against Time“. Using this platform, he writes on various subjects like Education, Parenting, and Social Issues.

Reviewer’s Note: This review is a part of the Blogchatter Ebook review program. For my other reviews under this category, please click here.

Rating and other Details:

Book Title: Being in Love – Half Fiction Series

Genre: Fiction

Author: Jyotrimoy Sarkar

Number of Pages: 154

Available: PDF, Blog Chatter Library

My Rating: 4.0/5.0

Author Interview: Ginia Basu of Easy Home Cooking

Today, we are planning to introduce our food enthusiastic author, who has decided to write a book on her Easy Home Cooking recipes in #BlogchatterEbook Carnival. she is none other than our own Ginia Basu. Before we start our chit chat with Ginia, please find below the earlier interviews:

1st interview – “Abhijit ray” author of “Desert Plant”
2nd interview – “Meena Chatty” author of “Starlit Sky”
3rd interview – “Pratibha” author of “Eco Babycare & Green Parenting.
4th interview – “Varsha” author of “Konkan Diaries”
5th interview – “Geethica” author of “Thoughts and Conversations – Cafes in and around Delhi”
6th interview – “Saba Irfan Ladha” author of “With Love, yours Hatefully”
7th interview – “Darshana Sarmah” author of “Put your best foot forward”
8th interview – “Anand Narayanan” author of “Flowered Bytes”
9th interview – “Pooja Priyamvada” author of Mental Health Primer
10th interview – “Surbhi Prapanna” author of Creative Kids
11th interview – ” Sudip Saha” of Tech Know Logy

OK, coming back to our Chef cum food enthusiast, Ginia, read further to find out what ticks her going and how she tries her experiments in Baking.
Us: What inspired you to start blogging?
Ginia: I was inspired to start blogging after I got my blog site as a gift from my sister who is also a blogger. Also, I often used to read blogs about certain topics whenever I wanted any information, reviews or recipes. So I felt that I can also pass on all the information and knowledge that I gather through my blog posts.
Us: Can you please describe your blogging journey so far? And who are your biggest supporters
Ginia: MMy blogging journey was sporadic in the very onset but now has gathered some momentum thanks to blogchatter, super blogger challenge, ultimate blogging challenge, etc. My biggest supporters are definitely my family member
Us: Why did you register for the A2Z challenge?
Ginia: I Registered for A2Z challenge to get some discipline in writing my blog regularly despite a super busy schedule
Us: How it feels like to be called “Author”?
Ginia: Being called an author gives me a dreamy and accomplished feeling. It’s absolutely superb.
Us: What is the key learning for you from this Blogger to Author journey?
Ginia: My key learning in this journey is that an author has to be much much more disciplined than s blogger. Also, you really have to be very honest in your writing
Us: Do you want to share any future plans for your blog and books with us?
Ginia: In the future, I would like to write a fiction book.
Us: How is your overall feeling on Blogchatter’s carnival and what are your recommendations for other bloggers?
Ginia: Blogchatters Ebook carnival is a great platform for bloggers turning into authors as it gives awesome exposure and chance for many types of interactions and marketing strategies. I am grateful to blogchatter for this opportunity.

So, friends, hope this interview with Ginia was entertaining for you and you got to know little more about her. In case you want to grab the copy of her much-acclaimed book, it is here for you all.

My co-host Pragun has done a candid review of the book “Easy Home Cooking” and you can find the review here.

Author Interview: Sudip Saha of Tech Know Logy

Today, we are planning to introduce our Techie author, who has decided to write a book on Technology only in the #BlogchatterEbook Carnival. He is none other than our own Technology expert and Influencer Sudip Saha. Before we start our chit chat with Sudip, please find below the earlier interviews:

1st interview – “Abhijit ray” author of “Desert Plant”
2nd interview – “Meena Chatty” author of “Starlit Sky”
3rd interview – “Pratibha” author of “Eco Babycare & Green Parenting.
4th interview – “Varsha” author of “Konkan Diaries”
5th interview – “Geethica” author of “Thoughts and Conversations – Cafes in and around Delhi”
6th interview – “Saba Irfan Ladha” author of “With Love, yours Hatefully”
7th interview – “Darshana Sarmah” author of “Put your best foot forward”
8th interview – “Anand Narayanan” author of “Flowered Bytes”
9th interview – “Pooja Priyamvada” author of Mental Health Primer
10th interview – “Surbhi Prapanna” author of Creative Kids

OK, coming back to our techie guru, Sudip, read further to find out what ticks him going and how he keeps himself updated regularly

Us: What inspired you to start blogging?
Sudip: It was in July-August, 2010. I was representing my school at an inter-school web-designing contest. We were a team of 3, and as the senior-most member, I selected the web-designing part. After completing the design, I asked them for the content. But, they insisted me to send them the design because they wanted to give it a ‘different look’ with the help of some software. They assured me that would complete it in within a day. We were 5 days away from the day of the event, so I decided to give them a chance. The next evening, they emailed me the screenshots of the work and I was happy with their efforts. The following day, they also showed me the work on their laptop. On the day of the event, in the venue, I tried to open the website files in my laptop, but it didn’t open. I was shocked and immediately called them. One of them inserted a pen drive in my laptop and installed one software. After installing it, the webpages were opening properly. He then told me that he installed a server and the WordPress software on my laptop. After returning home, I did some research on this topic, and that’s how it started.
Us: Can you please describe your blogging journey so far? And who are your biggest supporters?
Sudip: I started blogging in 2010, and it has been a pleasant learning experience since Day 1. I was crazy about gadgets, so I started as a tech blogger. I started on a wordpress.com blog. Later in 2012, I moved to http://www.hitechup.in. I continued tech blogging till December 2017. Here, I got a good deal and sold it. After a month’s break, I started a new blog – The Bloggers Diary. Here, I started diversification. This blog is like my diary. I talk about various topics – tech, travel, food, and finance. Later, I added some more sections to my blog. Things were going perfectly well. My stats were booming, touching new records. In December 2018, I was invited to join the prestigious Digit SQUAD. Here, I started thinking about launching a dedicated tech blog.
Two things were going in my mind – first was a new tech blog, and the second was the revival of hitechup. I decided to proceed with the second one, and in April 2019, I brought back HiTechup. It’s still like Day 1, and I am m learning something new every day. My readers are my strength. I thank them for their continued support.

Author Interview Series, #shravmusingswrites — **Sudip Saha**

Us: Why did you register for the A2Z challenge?
Sudip: I update my blog two-three times a week, which translates to 8 to 12 posts per month. When I heard about the A2Z challenge where I will have to post 26 posts in 1 month – 1 post a day (excluding Sunday), I was excited to try it out. It was a challenge for me whether I would able to go beyond 12 posts or not. I am happy that I completed this challenge and who knows maybe in the near future, I may start updating my blog daily.
Us: How it feels like to be called “Author”?
Sudip: My social media profile’s bio contains this quote, “I am the Author of my life”. I believe that we are the authors of our own life. Every day, we start writing a new page. We can’t erase the mistakes of our past, but we can write a better tomorrow. Getting my first book published was a special moment for me, a memorable moment. It’s a milestone that I have achieved.
Us: What is the key learning for you from this Blogger to Author journey?
Sudip: Every day is a learning experience for me, but here I would like to say that as a blogger, we can write short posts, but in a book, we need to explain the content. When we are blogging on a subject, we need to have a ‘Very Good’ knowledge of the topic, while writing a book, the author must have an ‘Outstanding knowledge” of the topic. Lastly, we can add our “Mann Ki Baat” (personal thoughts and suggestions) in blog posts, but we should avoid that while writing a book on a subject.
Us: Do you want to share any interesting stuff on this book which has not been captured there?
Sudip: You will find it in the upcoming edition.
Us: Do you want to share any future plans for your blog and books with us?
Sudip: I am in plans to make my Youtube channel more active. I’ll try to create a youtube video for every blog post. The present version of the book is just a trailer. I need to make it more informative and interactive by adding more content to it. I need some time to complete the book.
Us: How is your overall feeling on Blogchatter’s carnival and what are your recommendations for other bloggers?
Sudip: Blogchatter Ebook carnival is a great platform for those who want to become authors from bloggers. It’s a great community of bloggers, where they can showcase their talent and gain maximum from it. I would recommend every blogger to try it out.

So, friends, this is an interesting interview from Sudip, in case you want to grab the copy of his much-acclaimed book, it is here for you all.

My co-host Pragun has done a candid review of the book “Tech Know Logy” and you can find the review here.

Author Interview – Pooja Priyamvada of Mental Health Primer

Welcome back once again, friends to the ever interesting, #Author Interview series hosted by Pragun and Me. We are going to introduce another famous blogger from the Mental Health niche today. Before we go and talk to her, you can refresh your memory with the previous interviews here:

1st interview – “Abhijit ray” author of “Desert Plant”
2nd interview – “Meena Chatty” author of “Starlit Sky”
3rd interview – “Pratibha” author of “Eco Babycare & Green Parenting.
4th interview – “Varsha” author of “Konkan Diaries”
5th interview – “Geethica” author of “Thoughts and Conversations – Cafes in and around Delhi”
6th interview – “Saba Irfan Ladha” author of “With Love, yours Hatefully”
7th interview – “Darshana Sarmah” author of “Put your best foot forward”
8th interview – “Anand Narayanan” author of “Flowered Bytes”

Are you able to guess who is going to occupy the hot seat today? Yes, it’s none other than Pooja. She runs multiple columns on Mental Health and don’t you all agree that she fits this hot seat perfectly. So let’s hear what Pooja has to say?

Us: What inspired you to start blogging?

Pooja: I started blogging about 11 years ago just to chronicle my thoughts and creative writing, but it grew on to become my daily dose of self-love.

Us: Can you please describe your blogging journey so far? And who are your biggest supporters?

Pooja: My blogging journey has been immensely rewarding, I eventually branched out to two blogs one each in Hindi and English. The blog babies as I call them got me applause and acclaim and also shaped my critical and creative voice as distinct and strong. My blogging communities and my daughter have been my support all along, you can say I write for myself first and then for them.

AirBrush_20190526215621 — Pooja Priyamvada

Us: Why did you register for the A2Z Challenge?

Pooja: I registered for first A to Z challenge 5 years ago to connect to the international blogging community, especially motivated by my long-time online friend and one of the mentors at A to Z Arlee Bird. Three weeks before the challenge my father passed away and it turned out to be a dedication to him and therapeutic. This year was my 5th consecutive year at A to Z.

Us: How it feels like to be called a “Author”?

Pooja: I have been an author before, frankly it is just another label, I would rather define myself as a distinct, learned, unbiased and strong voice

Us: What is the key learning for you from this Blogger to Author Journey?

Pooja: Writing to me as a Sufi is like Sama or whirling or as Zen chanting, I do not associate it with labels, writing is just writing, whether it comes out as a book or on website/blog or stays in my journal is incidental.

Us: Do you want to share any interesting stuff on this book which has not been captured there?

Pooja: My book Mental Health: A Primer is not just the outcome of one A to Z challenge but years of my continuous leaning towards Mental Health activism and the 26 topics chosen are based on my research as a writer and curator/counselor for websites.

Us: Do you want to share any future plans for your blog and books with us?

Pooja: I live one day at a time, I have no future plans per se, I hope the voice spreads and grows

Us: How is your overall feeling on Blogchatter’s carnival and what are your recommendations on the same for other bloggers?

Pooja: Blogchatter is a unique and hugely supportive platform for bloggers, especially at the e-book carnival the camaraderie is contagious and the variety of content is so inspiring. To other bloggers I must say, this is worth trying, so much learning and so quick

So, friends, this is another short interview from Pooja, in case you want to grab the copy of her much-acclaimed book, it is here for you all.

My co-host Pragun has done a candid review of the book “With Love, Yours Hatefully” and you can find the review here.

Biography of Manasi Joshi

Lessons I learned from Manasi Joshi:

Inner Strength:

Determination to achieve something:

Hard work:

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Playing under pressure:

Importance of Fitness & Diet:

Human Emotions:

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Patriotism:

Sportsman spirit:

Team spirit:

Leadership skills:

Importance of Rigorous Practise:

Working under pressure:

Adherence to Diet:

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Morning Routine:

Before the School Routine:

After the School Routine:

Bedtime rituals:

Weekend Routine:

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