…later, it’s that time of the year again. That time when I write the annual blog anniversary post, a report card of the blogging year gone by. Every anniversary post is as much about acknowledging a personal milestone, as it is about taking stock and the 7th blog anniversary post is going to be no different.
Every blogging year has been unique with its own set of highs and lows, challenges and surprises, achievements and lessons learnt, etc. The 7th year of blogging has been no different and yet, it stands apart from the previous years of blogging.
I know, I tell that every blog anniversary post. But, believe me, the 7th year of blogging has been different in a very unique way. It has brought me back to the beginning of the blogging journey I embarked on this day in 2010.
In other words, I have come a full circle, back to where I began 7 years later. Let me elaborate.
Regular readers of this blog will be familiar with the story of how this blog began and the journey so far. But for those who have joined me recently, let me give a quick recap.
“My Favourite Things” was the result of boredom, and some good-natured nagging from a dear friend —Deepa Bhalerao —who said that I should be writing. When I started blogging, my initial plan was only to write about my travels, but the blog had a mind of its own and other things got added in bits and pieces over the years. Today, while the bulk of my posts are about my travels, I also write about books, music, art, and the city I’m based in, Mumbai (though to be honest, I have hardly written about it this year). I had a brief fling with restaurant and film reviews, before realising that we don’t understand each other very well and decided to amicably part ways. But my relationship and engagement with ‘art’ is growing and I know that it is here to stay on the blog.
The first year of blogging was an exciting time of finding my feet in the blogging world, while the second year was a heady and wonderful year of peer recognition. The third year of blogging was the year of reality check in the form of severe writer’s block and coming face to face with negativity and bullying in the blogging world. Year four was all about facing extreme blogging fatigue, wondering what to do, and slowly reclaiming the pleasure of blogging. Year 5 was the most relaxed year of blogging, where I did what I wanted to do, while Year 6 was a strange and challenging year where I swung between Not writing for weeks and writing like my life depended on it.
And Year 7? It was a regular year filled with lots of travel and new experiences, lots of learning and personal discoveries, a deeper engagement with art and aesthetics. It was also the year where I finally changed my blog url from thatandthisinmumbai.wordpress. com to sudhagee.com, after a lot of procrastination.
This was the public side of blogging. Behind the scenes, was a year of contemplation and growing disconnect with the changing environment in travel blogging and the larger blogging community. This disconnect had begun a couple of years back, and I had tried to cope and adapt, but soon realised that a travel blogging world ruled by listicles, how to’s, sponsored posts, cliques and groups promoting follow-for-follow, like-for-like, share-for share, etc. was not for me. Neither was influencer (I abhor that term) driven travel engagement, strident calls for monetisation or the race to get invited to FAMs or Familiarisation Trips organised by tourist boards.
I decided to become an ostrich, i.e hide my head in the ‘sand’ hoping that this was only a phase and things would change for in a couple of years. I continued doing what I wanted to do, but that didn’t help either. The disconnect only increased and thoughts of quitting blogging occupied my thoughts more than planning a schedule for the posts I had to write.
And it was on one such day of “to quit or not to quit”, that I realised how I had strayed far away from the initial purpose of blogging — to write. Instead of focusing on that, I had trapped myself into doing something that I did not want to do or be someone who I couldn’t be. Sure, I enjoy appreciation as much as anyone else, but that but that was never the reason I wrote or blogged. I wrote because I wanted to and also because it kept me sane. Everything else, like getting followers, likes, shares, comments, etc. was secondary.
The sense of relief I felt that day was enormous. and everything fell into place. I felt like a new blogger who is starting from scratch. This is what I meant when I said that my blogging journey had come a full circle, and I’m back to where I began 7 years back — excited, eager and looking forward to a new innings.
So, that was my 7 years of blogging with 512 posts comprising 4,61,996 words, 53 videos, 2 audio, and 3,299 images, have elicited 6,00,680 page views, 12,833 comments, and 90,309 spam comments. I’m all set for Year 8 of blogging and see what it has in store for me.
Will you be there with me, dear reader? 🙂
PS: A big thank you to every single person who has liked, read and shared my posts. Thank you for being part of this journey and thank you for the encouragement. 🙏🏼
The Blogging Journey… Year 1 | Year 2 | Year 3 | Year 4 | Year 5 | Year 6 | Year 7 | Year 8 | Year 9 | Year 10 |
Join me on Twitter, Facebook and Instagram as I explore the world around me and share “My Favourite Things” with you.
My Favourite Things 
Superb post Sudha! And hearty congratulations! Every time I see one of your anniversary posts, I am tempted to write one too, but somehow when the time comes, the words just dont seem to. Lets see what happens this year….
Meanwhile, I think for some of us there has been a whole lot of disillusionment over the last couple of years, but the important thing is to write, not, as you say for shares or likes, but for the sheer pleasure that comes from getting the words out. So, Cheers to much, much more travel, and more writing in the years to come.
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Thank you very much, Anu. Here’s to many more years of discussions, some cribbing, some ranting and lots and lots of writing that gives us meaning, joy and inspiration. Cheers 🙂
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Congratulations on year 7. I started reading your blog when it was Year 4 I think. I still love it for its unique content which is different from the other travel blogs. Your Madurai posts inspired me to visit the place. I loved it and visited all places you mentioned. The only reason I am not writing about it is because, you did such a good write up on it. Keep going and would love to read more of your travels.
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Thank you so much, Lata, for the comment and for being such a regular reader. And I’m thrilled that you visited Madurai after reading my posts. I hope that you had a fabulous trip. Just a suggestion though: you should write about it. Everyone’s gaze, perspective and experience and unique. You will always write something different. Just think of the number of posts on the Taj Mhal and you will know what I mean.
Thank you once again. 🙂
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Congratulations.. and celebration time.. 7 years wowow and what an impressive collection of numbers.. 90k spam wowowowowowowo… 😀
My best wishes always and here’s to the 8th year ..
Blogging world is funny world.. so you do what you do best WRITE 😀😀😀
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Thank you very much, Bikramjit. Yes, 7 years. Can’t believe that I’ve lasted this long. And yes, I will continue to write and write more.
PS: I wish the comments and spam comments numbers could interchange. 😛
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Congratulations for this milestone and making your blog amazing. Yours is one blog that I love reading. You’d be interesting to read my post on SoBo and do feel free to drop in feedback whenever you can.
https://vishalbheeroo.wordpress.com/2017/05/19/simply-south-mumbai-an-enthralling-sobo-affair-1/
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Thank you so much, Vishal, for your warm wishes and for being such a regular reader. I did read your SoBo post and will head over there to comment. 🙂
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Sure thanks a lot and will wait. Your blog is always inspiring Sudhagee:)
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Congrats. Surely the professional bloggers or influencer space is growing. But we all need to find reason for blogging, only then we will enjoy this journey. Great going. May you achieve higher scales.
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Thank you so much for your wishes, Arv. You’re right when you say that we all need a reason to write, and I have just presented my reason here. But there is a big difference in writing because you travel and travelling because you have to write. But in the end, each to his or her own. 🙂
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So which one is you? Writing because you travel?
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Yes, I write because I travel.
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Happy to know that 🙂
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Hey Sudha! Great going! I think it is like the 7 year itch that makes us go through the roller-coaster ride before coming to the moment of realistaion – of hitting upon the primary reason why we began blogging in the first place. As I see, there are very few of those who are still blogging for the love of it. I also blog for the added benefit of putting everything in one place. I mean, in addition to my hard-disk and the cloud, that is 🙂 The you-follow-me-if-you-want-me-to-follow-you trend has woken me up and made me just write and enjoy what I write 🙂
And it was very sweet of you to have tagged me. Thank you!
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Dear, dear Zephyr. I may not have thanked you enough, but a large part of the reason I have hung around is because of you. Your quiet encouragement and occasional chiding has always inspired me.
Whether it is the 7-year itch or whether I’m a little slow in understanding, I’m happy at the stage I have reached. It is a liberating feeling and I’m so happy to have come a full circle. 🙂
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अपुन भी आपके आसपास ही है, आपके लेख 512 है तो अपुन के लेख 529, आपका समय 7 वर्ष है तो अपुन का समय 6 वर्ष, आपके शब्द 461996 है तो अपुन भी 600000 पार हो चुके है।
सच में देखा जाये तो इतने लम्बे समय तक यात्रा जैसे विषय पर लिखते-लिखते बहुत से बन्दे बोर होकर लिखना बन्द ही कर देते है, जबकि ब्लॉग की दुनिया ऐसी है कि इसमें जितने पुराने ह्ते जाओगे, उतनी आपको आसानी होती जायेगी, मुझे ब्लॉगिंग ने बहुत कुछ दिया, नाम, शोहरत, अच्छे-अच्छे दोस्त, और घूमने के लिये प्रेरणा भी इसी की देन है।
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नमस्ते संदीप जी. आपके ब्लॉग के बारे में सुनकर बहुत अच्छा लगा. आपको भी बधाई हो.
मैं अपनी यात्राओं के बारे में इसलिए लिखती हूँ क्यूंकि मुझे लिखना पसंद है. लिखने से ऊब जाने का कोई चांस ही नहीं है. आशा है की मैं ऐसे ही लिखती जाऊं सालों तक और कभी थकूं ही नहीं.
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Congratulations Sudha. Being a very recent entrant into your community I cannot comment much on the past 7 years, but for sure half a million words and 500 posts must stand for something. Great show indeed.
When curious, intelligent and expressive people like you do what they do I am often struck by the fact that they must be in search of something very valuable. I suspect they seek some meaning to what they do; to the life they lead. Happy hunting and all the best.
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Hey Raj, thank you so much for your wishes.
As for why I do what I do, I wish I had an answer. One of my favourite quotations is “Just when I knew all the answers to life’s question, they changed the questions”. So in that sense I’m always seeking answers at various levels. And with multiple interests like mine, travel is where all of them coalesce more often than not.
Thanks once again. 🙂
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Wow!! that’s a great milestone.Congrats 🙂
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Welcome here Syamyam. Thank you so much for stopping by and commenting your wishes. 🙂
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Wow! Congratulations on the Blogging Anniversary! And please do keep writing! Your unique perspective and engaging style is so wonderful- I definitely need my second hand travel experience via your blog! And the bite sized nuggets of knowledge about our country’s art and history!
Keep writing and All the very Best for another fascinating year of adventure and discovery!
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Thank you so much, Nirupama. I definitely intend to keep writing for as as long as I can and am able to. Of course, as interests deepns or wanes, the topics I write about on the blog will also get reflected accordingly. 🙂
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Hi Sudhagee,
Thank you very much great informative article ,keep sharing such articles .
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Thank you very much for the appreciation, Ashutosh. 🙂
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Congratulations! I really enjoy reading your posts. My favourite blogs are definitely not the most popular or the most flashy – but rather those where the authors enjoy writing or posting photos (or both) and want to share their ideas.
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Welcome to “My Favourite Things”, Lisa and thank you so much for stopping by and commenting your appreciation. 🙂
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Congratulations on the anniversary and more power to you, Sudha. 🙂
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Thank you so much, Shekhar. Thank you for all the shares,likes and comments that you do unfailingly with every post of mine.
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