Life ... As it is !: My second Liebster Award !

It took me by surprise when Anmol Rawat, a fellow blogger, nominated me for my second Liebster Award. The reason being, I wasn’t expecting it. The blogging world has kept me awestruck and fascinated with the range of articles and its network of talented bloggers worldwide ever since I joined in 2011. Most importantly, it has helped me build my own world of favorite bloggers who have, in the process, turned into friends.

When someone from this amazing world shouts out to you with an award, you feel ecstatic for having been noticed. Thank you Anmol Rawat. I owe you one. J

Rules of the Liebster Award (taken from Anmol’s blog post) –

If you have been nominated for The Liebster Award AND YOU CHOOSE TO ACCEPT IT, write a blog post about the Liebster award in which you:

1. Thank the person who nominated you, and post a link to their blog on your blog.

2. Display the award on your blog — by including it in your post and/or displaying it using a “widget” or a “gadget”. (Note that the best way to do this is to save the image to your own computer and then upload it to your blog post.)

3. Answer 11 questions about yourself, which will be provided to you by the person who nominated you.

4. Provide 11 random facts about yourself.

5. Nominate 5 – 11 blogs that you feel deserve the award, who have a less than 1000 followers. (Note that you can always ask the blog owner this since not all blogs display a widget that lets the readers know this information!)

6. Create a new list of questions for the blogger to answer.

7. List these rules in your post (You can copy and paste from here.) Once you have written and published it, you then have to:

8. Inform the people/blogs that you nominated that they have been nominated for the Liebster Award and provide a link for them to your post so that they can learn about it (they might not have ever heard of it!

My answers –

Q1. What makes you venerable?

Answer. People say I have a good memory. Telephone numbers and faces are kind of easy for me to remember.

Q2. Paperback or EBooks? Why?

Answer. I would say, both. At home, a paperback is what you’ll find my nose deeply perched into. While on a journey an eBook is always easy to carry in terms of quantity of books and portability.

Q3. If you are given full freedom for 24 hours and you can do anything without any consequences, what will you do?

Answer. Get into a famous bookstore and rob them of all the books that I wish to read.

Q4. Have you ever felt Déjà vu? When?

Answer. I have always experienced déjà vu from time-to-time right from my high school days. Although it was hard to understand or explain it back then, the last time I had a déjà vu was in 2013 before the birth of my daughter.

Q5. Do you think that India should work more towards the growth and development of mindsets rather than technology?

Answer. India has been and continues to be a traditional society. So mindsets have ruled us for so long but now it’s time to give technology a chance. Many of our age old processes need to undergo improvisation and that would only be possible with newer technological findings. In order to flourish as a super power country, our primary investment definitely should be in technology.

Q6. Have you ever felt anything supernatural? A brief explanation would suffice.

Answer. Yes, more than once. I will share a recent experience. Of all the possible meanings that could arise from the word ‘supernatural’, I choose to pick the words – weird, bizarre or mystical to describe this word so that it fits perfectly in my scenario.

Recently, I had to visit the US consulate in India for a visa thing. I reviewed my forms a million times to avoid any last minute pandemonium or goof-ups on the D-day. But as you would have it, sometimes things are bound to go wrong even if it isn’t your mistake. So right before entering the consulate, the officer checking my documents finds a mistake in my form and asks me to print a new copy with the correction included. Now, since the consulate is located in an upcoming industrial area, the vicinity wasn’t very well developed so you can rest the idea of a cyber café existing there. I was sure that the finding for a cyber café would make me miss my appointment time.

But as mystical as it gets, just as I was walking away from the consulate entrance, a gentleman approaches me and tells me that his cyber café is right up ahead so we need not worry ourselves with the form correction. Since none of the existing crowd seemed to head any way other than consulate, it seemed a little skeptical to trust a complete stranger but as he correctly stated, his cyber café was indeed located some 200 yards away. He promptly helped me correct the form, print a new copy and emailed me the corrected form in case I needed to check it using my phone. As a result I ended up on time for my appointment back at the consulate with no worries or tensions in my mind.

Q7. What is your biggest fear?

Answer. Being alone amongst family. Mind you, family here doesn’t mean your parents or siblings. I’m talking of feeling alone in a big crowd of people who are your cousins, uncles, aunts and the likes. If family isn’t with you always, then that was never your family to begin with.

Q8. What is your biggest obsession?

Answer. I am an OCD freak so cleanliness comes naturally. Not to forget being meticulous and organized about everything in life.

Q9. If you could go in the past, what would you like to change?

Answer. I would like to change some of my statements I made to my near and dear ones in the past due to frustration or anger. Apart from this, I also wish that I hadn’t helped certain friends who just turned out to deceit me in the end. But thanks to the change in their nature, I was able to judge them correctly and stay away from them.

Q10. If you found out that your pet is an alien morphed into the creature, how will you react?

Answer. Then that explains why my dog is having adjustability issues with me since I landed at my parents’ house. She likes to growl and bark at me at every instance. So much so that I remain captivated in a closed bedroom only because my pet wants to wander like a lion in the rest of the house. How would I react ? Let’s just say I am not amused and need my freedom back. (Pssst…. I also want the alien to be sent back to its planet soon…. )

Q11. What is the most beautiful dream you have ever seen and remembered on the following morning?

Answer. There was one particular dream I saw last year. The dream started with me feeling very sad and overwhelmed about the things happening around me. I became restless and couldn’t hold my tears back. That’s when this gentleman appeared from nowhere and whisked me into a comforting hug. His touch seemed to soothe me. His golden words were – “It’s ok dear, everything will be fine.” I remember waking up to this dream feeling hopeful and positive. A sudden rush of optimism surged all over my body and made me want to see that person in my dreams again. In real life too, we need someone like that who can make us stop for a second and give us a warm hug to assure us that in the end, it will all be fine.

Random facts about me – I have posted about this earlier. Click here and here.

My questions for nominees -

Q1. If you had to give up one of your personal favorites forever (like a favorite fruit / food / belongings), what would it be ?

Q2. If you could have one superpower, what would it be ?

Q3. Who has been your biggest inspiration in your life ? Why ?

Q4. If you could choose to view one of the world’s most historical events, which one would you choose ?

Q5. Tell us one goal of your life you are working toward.

Q6. Jewelry or money ? Why ?

Q7. What is one song you cannot get out of your head ?

Q8. If you could bring back one dead person from your life (like a friend or family member), who would it be ? Why ?

Q9. Name the happiest moment of your life so far.

Q10. A day trip to a big bustling city or a walk in the countryside ?