"Z" for "Ze end" and "Zillions of Thanks!" - My A to Z reflections post : The April Experience

Before I embarked on this journey of  "A to Z" I was skeptical , conscious and little scared as I felt I would never be able to make it to "Z". I have been blogging from nearly 5-6 years. Initially it was just a once in a blue moon blogging which started with my first poem "here" . I started with poems and slowly progressed to short stories , articles and much more. I still remember that amazing evening when a fellow team mate encouraged me by saying that I should move all the poems from email drafts and rusted folder with title "personal" on my office desktop to a personal blog :) Those were initial days of corporate life and I had my doubts. My language was bad and my skills were minimal and who will read it on my blog ?

He insisted and after too many thoughts I went ahead and created my blog on "Infyblogs" (blogs of Infosys where I worked.) I was surprised to see the response. Slowly my network increased and as every one suffers due to mundane working hours there was an instant connection and a "feel good" factor when ever I read the blogs. It was my respite in office and I can't narrate in words how much I miss that space now !  I made many friends and also enemies via blogs but all in all the roller coaster ride was a life time memory. I am still in touch with them via few groups on FB.

As part of the A2 Z challenge "Corinne" the best cheer leader ever came up with this brilliant idea of creating a group "A2Zers" which motivated me in every possible way. I loved all the Pablo tales and the rest of the posts too :). There were sunny days , balmy days and also rainy days but no complaints and no regrets as I am about to end this journey. Zillions of thanks to all those thoughtful people who bothered to read my lengthy posts till the last full stop and traveled that extra mile to comment. It definitely boosted me. I came across many bloggers out side India. I really enjoyed reading Deecoded by Dee (http://deecoded.blogspot.in/) and Kristen's blog (http://kristenhead.blogspot.in/) which were a mix of all emotions. Commenting for sure was challenging and I couldn't cover many blogs which I wanted to due to difference in timezones and due to lack of time. I did what all I could and made it sure that I atleast visit those who visited me. All in all it was a great journey and I would love to travel through the same path again next year. Have to see how it goes. I am both happy and sad that the journey is ending. Happy as I can give more attention to my husband and sleep little more :P  Sad as there won't be something entertaining and exciting to look forward to from tomorrow!

Anyway I want to keep this post as short as possible so that many read it :)   Lastly a big thanks to Corinne and also a special thanks to "laxmi" for her unfathomable support and appraisal and needless to say I love the way she weaves magic around words!

I simply loved the every day tid bits by Cynthia (http://cynthology.blogspot.in) . Will for sure be missing them. Liked Preeti's posts and her thoughtfulness to read and acknowledge back (http://mywhitewindow.blogspot.in/). Enjoyed Roshni's Kiddo's tales. Revived my own childhood ( http://www.bigaandlittlea.com/) . Got tempted by Ruchira's travelogues (http://nirjharani.blogspot.in/) . Loved the out of the box thinking of Shilpa (http://shilpaagarg.blogspot.in/) and thoroughly enjoyed her comments too :). If Sridevi's (http://sridevi-datta.blogspot.in/) poetry made me thoughtful Vidya Sury's every day posts and ideas (http://vidyasury.com) increased my knowledge! Missed her comments due to her vacation :-/.  Had fun interacting with Priya and reading her .( http://iwrite-myblog.blogspot.in/). Vinita 's posts made me laugh and also think (www.blogwatig.com). Janaki's poems were warm (http://www.janakinagaraj.com/). Few of Meera Srilakshmi's posts (http://meeraah.blogspot.in/) were my favorites! I used to wait for a thoughtful and straight from the heart post by Naina Madan (http://whilethecoffeebrews.blogspot.in/) even if it was posted late some times :) . Nandana's (http://cheerfultornado.blogspot.in/) posts are always enjoyable . Loved Shail's clicks at http://shutterbuglady.wordpress.com/- and needless to say Lucy stole the show.  Bhavya's story idea is great and am still waiting to see how it ends today i.e. the "Z" day (http://ursilence.blogspot.in) .Some day Some where's Suzy Que (http://suzysomedaysomewhere.blogspot.co.nz/) took me every day to some where  !

There are few more blogs and many more unique people whom I read as part of the challenge. The response I got back was overwhelming and inspiring. I sincerely hope this camaraderie doesnt fade . "Ze" in french means "The" ! Some native french speakers pronounce English article "the" as "Ze". Ze end always marks ze new beginning. Till then aurevoir !! ( I wish to learn french soon ;) ) and once again zillions of thanks to all the readers! Lastly two images made by me to represent the group effort we had put through out this April month!

That Pooh is definitely you Corinne:)

Miss you all !

I felt this reflects what ever I felt during the month of April hence this is my reflections post too! I will surely be taking this challenge again in April 2014 provided I have no major obstacles.

Thanks to Arlee bird and the whole  "A to Z"  family once again.
Love
Afshan.