Indian Bloggers League - The Phenomenon

Official IBL Logo

It was a lazy Monday evening on the 11th of June, my good friend Deepak Karthik of Whatever It Takes fame came up with an ingenious idea to host a IPL-like tournament involving the Blogging community called the Indian Bloggers League. When I saw his post on the IndiBlogger Family group, I immediately lapped onto it. We both started discussing the pros and cons about a tournament of this magnitude. I was eager to participate but Deepak insisted I work behind the scenes to organize the tournament with him, and so I got on board to be a part of the organizing committee of IBL and also as a moderator.

We didn’t know what to expect at that point but promptly created ‘another’ blog group on Facebook to annoy people with tons of notifications. We added few of our blog friends to the group, in the meanwhile me and Deepak were also brainstorming on chat about the format, rules, the number of teams etc. The idea was still very sketchy at this point. We posted whatever little we discussed about the tournament on the group waiting for the response from our fellow bloggers. An hour after the group was created, the group was unusually quiet, and there wasn’t much response. Deepak pinged me on chat, “Bro no response yet”. I replied, “Just give it a couple of days bro”. I was so wrong, should’ve said “a couple of hours” instead. What transpired in the next couple of hours was unprecedented; we were not ready for it. Within 3 hours of the group creation, there were already 200 members. The response was overwhelming; we hadn’t even decided how many teams we should allow participating or how many members in a team or things like that but already there were people forming teams for their respective cities. I was introduced to my fellow team members in the organizing committee by Deepak. Saravana Kumar Murugan of Few Miles fame and Binoy Karan of WriteUp Café joined us. The four of us took some time off from the chaos that was happening on the group to come up with some concrete set of rules and regulations for the IBL. Our brainstorming sessions lasted well into the night which continued in the succeeding days. And within a day, we had come up with some neat set of rules, a proper format, created a Fan Page, Twitter account, a Blog with a custom domain (thanks to Binoy for his self-less act of buying the server space for the sake of IBL from his own pocket). Also, we finalized the scheduling of the tournament in the coming days.

Official IBL Banner

Even though the tournament is yet to begin, we have already had our share of arguments, fights and difference of opinions. But we have stuck it out through it all and held ourselves together to work as a cohesive unit. This little ordeal has also brought all four of us much closer to each other, even though we have never met one another.

The greatest impact of IBL is, it has taken the conversations between bloggers to a much more personal level, and we all converse with each other as if we have known one another since the past many years. Earlier, conversations between bloggers may have been limited to the comment sections of each other’s blogs, but the advent of the IndiBlogger Family and IBL groups on Facebook has paved way for an interactive era for bloggers which was unheard of before. I am very happy to have played a small part in that transformation.

We, at IBL aim to promote the art of writing and the art of blogging and of course the competitive spirit. It will be a great test to all the teams to work as a team, gel together as one unit, to help win this prestigious tournament playing for their respective cities.

So who will take home the crown as the Champions of the Inaugural Edition of the Indian Bloggers League?

Will it be the cultural capital of Maharashtra known as the Pune Blog-In blowing their trumpets proudly in the end?

Armed with Dhoklas, Theplas and Phapdas, will it be one of the most hard working teams of the tournament, The Amdavadi Thadka?

Bombay’s Bloggywood - The superstars from the city of Bollywood are among the favorites to go all the way.

Maybe the best team on paper known as Bengaluru Bloggers’ Bistro from the Garden City of India which boasts of some of the best bloggers in the country in their respective genres. Who can bet against them?

The dark horses of the tournament from the land of the Chanakyas and the Aryabhattas – The Patliputra Wordsmiths have the potential to go all the way.

Known for their competitive and sporting nature, will the team from Chennai be able to emulate the exploits of their more successful counterpart of the IPL? The Chennai Super Bloggers are a team to watch out for.

The Kolkata Knight Writers team swears by the notion, pen is mightier than the sword; they are a bunch of talented writers whom no one can underestimate.

The spirited and enthusiastic bunch of bloggers from the Capital city of India – The Delhi Sutras are exceptionally talented. They may not be the most favored team but they are the team to beat.

The Battle of Blogs begins on the 1st of July. Be sure to catch all the action of this unprecedented blogging extravaganza on our Website, on our WriteUp Café Page, our Facebook Page and our Facebook Group.

136 Bloggers. 8 Teams. 4 Grueling Rounds spread over 3 Months. One Ultimate Winner. The phenomenon that is the Indian Bloggers League has arrived.

Back in Black

My love affair with the color Black dates back exactly seven years ago today, April 30, 2005. That was the very first time in my life I wore all black, including my watch, my pair of socks and shoes and my beloved ring which had Mi Amor’s name encrypted on it.

First time ever in All Black -
Dated Apr 30, 2005

Since then on wards I have only wore black clothes for most part of my existence, I absolutely don’t feel good on a rare occasion when I wear a different colored outfit. Many of my conversations with few people, especially my close friends starts with a comment on my all black outfit; I have been called “The Man in Black” to “Blacky” to “Akshay in Black” and many more. I feel amused when I get comments like that because most of my friends have seen me wearing only black clothes for many years now.

My inspiration to wear black clothes was indeed the love of my life, Shaki. She used to wear mostly black clothes in her teens so I tried to emulate her by wearing only black clothes in my teens.

My Best Pic -
Dated Dec 26, 2007

Black has given me a new but different identity which I did not possess before. Everyone I know identifies me with the color black. They may not always know my style in terms of the clothes I wear, well there isn’t much style to talk about, I pretty much suck in that department but when you ask any of my friends what kind of clothes I wear, 9 out of 10 times you might get the answer as Black. And I never shop for my clothes either, well hardly. Only recently I have started to “learn” to shop for my own clothes but mostly the shopping part will be taken care of by my mom or my bro. Only condition I put forth before they buy clothes for me is, you guessed it, it should be only Black.

On top of Mullayanagiri Peak,
 on Aug 14, 2011

I do get a few weird stares when I walk on the road wearing all black, it doesn’t bother me at all, in fact I like the attention I get.  Although I don’t stand out in a crowd, nor I have the personality to stand out but wearing black makes me feel different from others and gives me the confidence to stand out in a crowd.

Ethnic Day -
Dated Oct 15, 2010

I absolutely do not like wearing Ethnic Clothes but when we had “Ethnic Day” in college a couple of years ago, I decided to wear ethnic for the first time in my life and obviously it had to be all black, much to the amusement of everyone. And on that particular day somebody even called me “Moosa Bhai” while I was walking on the road. No kidding.

On my Birthday -
Apr 13, 2012

I tend to laugh at people who say, “Black is unlucky” or it isn’t right to wear black clothes or anything to do with the color black because it brings them “Bad Omen”. I don’t believe in such nonsense. I will always continue with my fascination for the color black and continue to wear black clothes because black defines me, it defines who I really am. 

After a lot of struggle with my health issues in the past couple of months, I finally managed to stand up on my own feet and walk a few steps on my birthday a couple of weeks ago. I was determined to wear black on that day so that I can feel “normal” again. If you don’t know me that well probably you would not understand in totality what the last sentence really meant to me.

To me, black doesn’t stand for darkness or evil, it is a way of life and will always continue to be.

A Beautiful Birthday Gift

A month after the operation. Still smiling :)

Six months of enduring some excruciating pain, one unforgettable day of operation, after 6 weeks of physically challenging recuperation and after many mental, physical and emotional fight backs later, I finally managed to take my first few steps towards complete recovery today, a day before my birthday. It was like I was learning to walk all over again, one baby step after another. It was one of the most emotional moments of my life.

My knee muscles had become weaker because I hadn’t walked for close to six weeks, hence when I tried to walk I felt like I might fall over any moment. I was still very much imbalanced but managed to make myself steady to take my very first steps after the operation. I was overcome with emotions. Finally I felt no pain while walking; I was almost used to the pain while I walked, so much so it felt weird that I didn’t feel the pain while walking. Although it might take another two to three weeks more before I can make a complete recovery but today was one of the most emotional and happiest days of my life.

It might be a happy co-incidence that I took my first steps towards recovery a day before my birthday on April 12th exactly two years ago when I was diagnosed with ITP as well. My platelet count had miraculously increased to normal levels a day before my birthday. Although my platelet count plummeted 10 days later to below normal levels again. My platelets gradually increased after that and I made a complete recovery by the end of May, 2010.

My status message on April 12th 2010, a day before my birthday 

I don’t know what else to say because I feel too emotional to put my thoughts into words today. My mother has always been a pillar of strength for me and I could never have fought these battles on my own without her undying support and blessings. She is my inspiration. I love you Maa. You are the greatest mother in the whole wide world. And my dear bro as well for his love and support, I don’t know what I’ll do without him by my side.

I want to thank all my closest friends for their never ending support when I really need them. I am so lucky to have such amazing friends in my life. My few close relatives and cousins whom I truly love and trust, you know who you are, thank you for being there for me when I needed it.

And also a special thank you to my dear blog friends. Your amazing comments made me so much stronger, I can’t be thankful enough.

And with that, The Eternal Fighter makes another determined comeback, albeit not spectacular or dramatic like many previous occasions but it was definitely a hard fought comeback.

Don’t Tell Me What I Can’t Do

We all go through lots of success or failures in our life, be it personal or professional life. How do we accept those success or failures? Will you accept both in the same way or will you let the success go to your head and failure to your heart? We might accept success in the right spirits as we should but the same may not be said when we have gone through some gut-wrenching failures.

I have always tried to take both success and failures in my stride. Although I have experienced failures a lot more than success in my life but I have learnt to enjoy both in the same spirits. Its not that I do not succeed always but I have learnt to deal with failures a lot better. I never get bogged down by my failures nor let the success get to my head.

“Our greatest glory is not in never failing, but in rising up every time we fail” – Ralph Waldo Emerson.

But what if you are going through a lot of adversities, devastation after devastation and one gut-wrenching failure after another? None of these adversities are self-inflicted but you are being severely tested, you are made to fight for every breath you take. How would you handle such situations? Will you just accept it as your fate and live with it or would you do anything to change it? Do you have the courage and the strength to stand up and fight for it?

I am constantly asking such questions to myself more so in the recent past but the answers I am giving myself aren’t very encouraging. I am still fighting for every breath I take; I still keep telling myself there is absolutely nothing in the world I cannot achieve but there is also fear, not the fear of failing but the fear of not trying, hard enough. I feel like I am still holding back for some reason, also due to my present circumstances I feel like I am forced to hold back. And that is not the right place to be in for me at this moment. Every breath I am taking now is a constant battle to break those shackles.

At the same time I ask myself whether my constant health issues have done more damage than I credit them for. I always keep telling myself that nothing can break me but the core of my entire self may already be irreversibly damaged. But I won’t let those demons in my head get the better of me, no not this time, not anytime.

Nick Vujicic - No Arms, No Legs, No Problems
Image Courtesy: Google Images

As the cliché goes, I will rise from the ashes like a phoenix and there is absolutely nothing in the world that can stop me. I have gone though many adversities in the past and I have fought back valiantly every time. I might have lost many times but I have never lost hope.

I will not lose hope now; I will fight back, as always. I will regain my faith and I will come out of this phase a stronger, tougher and a much more determined person. I will come out of this phase a winner.

If anyone feels otherwise, I just have one thing to tell them:

DON’T TELL ME WHAT I CAN’T DO.

No matter how many times you fail, you just need to keep trying. It matters how you are going to finish, are you going to finish strong?