With inputs, support and encouragement from close family members & friends, I set-up my blog सरमिसळ - Collage of Thoughts exactly one year ago on 1st March 2018. I posted few articles on the blog but never knew how to reach people. Finally I was able to publish my blog on 29th March with the series on my memories of Shivaji Park.

I had decided to post one article every week was not sure where the topics will come from. But giving twist to the famous shäyari by Majrooh Sultanpuri, I would say -

मैं अकेला ही चला था जानिब-ए-मंजिल

मगर खयाल आते गये और कारवां बनता गया

The topics kept popping up and ideas started flowing on paper. I am happy to share that I not only managed to keep my promise of one article on every Friday but in fact surpassed my own expectations and published 56 articles in 52 weeks till today.

Further I also penned 16 personalities (व्यक्तिचित्रणे) of my close friends, few family members which were not published on the blog.

I am very happy to share that my blog was visited by around 10000 people and total views of nearly 14000. I couldn’t have asked for more. Thanks a million to all of you.

Mind you, I have no misgivings about being a writer. I am not writing some path breaking or philosophical stuff. What I have felt is, may be, I am more sensitive than what I think of myself, which helps me to absorb, be aware and also remember nuances. Hence all my articles are my personal expression and they have come from the heart. I have also tried to keep the average word length of all my articles between 900-1000 so that people don’t get bored or lose interest in reading long posts. I personally feel that short & sweet is always better. As the saying goes, a good write-up should be like a woman's skirt; long enough to cover the subject and short enough to create interest.

I covered following different topics in last one year.

Nostalgia (17), Personalities (7), Philosophy (7), Celebrities (6), Current & General Topics (5), History (4), Travelogue (4), Religious & Social (4), Politics (2)

I have realised that politics is not my cup of tea and I really don’t enjoy that writing. And personally I am thoroughly bored with bombardment of political articles on social media. So far my forte seems to be Nostalgia (even personalities were mainly penned from my reminiscences) as most people have liked my those articles. May be the reader gets teleported to that era gone by and he or she is able to identify himself or herself with it and enjoy it more. But as my blog name सरमिसळ suggests that it meant to be a collage of my thoughts. Hence I don’t want be contended with the likes of people for specific type of writing but in fact would like to try different genres. I would love if I am able to hone my writing skills by even taking some professional help.

Most writing is a private activity but a public service as the intention is that eventually my writing will become the reading matter of someone else, that my private words will 'go public'. Writing in other words, is above all for communication - for conveying ideas and feelings from my mind to another mind.

But then I asked myself, why do I want to write?

1. Is it for educating people?

2. Is it for getting applauds from people?

3. Is it for entertainment?

What I have realised is that I am writing for my pleasure & happiness. People have happened to like it, so it's great. I would like to share facts or experiences as an informal chat which would help people to connect with me. If I can give a sense to the reader that I am actually sharing the same on a one-to-one basis, I would be very happy. I don’t want to be a great intellectual or philosopher sitting on a ivory tower and sharing with people like a sermon.

I want to communicate with general masses and talking with them in their own language. Today everyone is so stressed, so ideally I would like them to feel relaxed after reading my post. They should identify themselves with the content of the posts. त्यांची थोडी निखळ करमणूक व्हावी ही मनापासूनची इच्छा. Hence I would strive to add entertainment quotient in all my posts.

My endeavour is to keep writing something every week as long as I can. I realise that the first year may have been relatively easy but the real test will start now. I am aware that I must have raised expectations of the people now and sincerely hope that the ideas will keep flowing.

I intend to do a series on Mythological Legends by studying and understanding its underlined meaning without getting stuck only in its pure narrative and see if it is finally relevant in today’s world. Keeping my fingers crossed.

I know all my topics or articles will not be appreciated or liked by one and all. It is just not possible but that is perfectly ok with me. I only hope that I can keep penning it from the heart and go with the flow.

Bye for now and see you from next week again.

Yeshwant Marathe

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