Nine Years as Locomente!!!

As my alarm rhythmically ushered me to the wakefulness, I snoozed it keeping my eyes closed. Almost immediately, I opened my eyes with an excited alarm and quickly typed “L” in the Google Chrome app. The predictive typing led me to “Locomente.com/?m=1” which incidentally is my blog URL and an error message popped up – The IP server cannot be reached and something-something. Despite my slumber, I remembered that I didn’t pay for the domain renewal and I told myself that I do not need that domain anymore. I have earned not a penny in the last two years out of the blog. I barely have visitors and most importantly, I hardly write. I clearly don’t need a paid domain. This ran in the back on my mind as we celebrated Vijaya Dashami. Around noon, I sat with my office laptop. The first thing I did was to sign out of Skype and MS Teams, of course. Then I started to work towards fixing the error message. After an hour, I decided that time is money and renewed the domain. To cut the long story short, my baby blog is reborn – after all, my baby blog is 9 years old!!!! 

Birthdays are all about celebrations, isn’t it? So, lets take a stock of the journey so far…1,730 posts covering poems, haiku, stories including micro fictions and blog series, books and movie reviews, random musings/thoughts, art, photobook, kolam and what not! Last 9 years has been a great learning and I am sure that years to follow would be equally enriching.

Birthdays are also an avenue to reflect… So here are some thoughts…

• I started this blog back in 2011 when I had completed my primary education (for those who don’t know, I am a Chartered account by qualification and auditor by profession). Over the years as I wished for professional growth, I also longed for more readership for my blog. I wanted to be famous but then I know for a fact that I am nowhere close to that. That worries me and demotivates at times. Rewards and recognitions are integral for not only profession, but for passion also. I should say that’s the most epic epiphanies ever.
• With Instagram, Twitter, Vlogs and all that, I am not sure if we really care to read long articles. Even the breaking news have become super concise and often precise. We are in a constant hurry with an attention span that’s ever diminishing. I am not sure how long such mediums where we can write hundreds and thousands of words altogether would stay relevant.
• Fame and success are addictive. Unless we taste both, consistency in the long run could be very difficult. Although 9 years ago on a sunny Diwali afternoon, I didn’t think of having any readership or fame. Today I do. Change is the only constant, further proved

Anyways… This Locomente has not been as driven as it used be in the past. But, the constant urge to experience and evolve has not changed. The rigor to be agile is the only prerequisite for survival. Hopefully Locomente shall survive too – through blogs, art or at least with the sheer desire to express. After all, Locomente never gets bored of romancing words. And mind you, Locomente always creates and never copies. As Malcolm Gladwell elaborated in The Outlier, ten years of constant practice is the only means towards perfection; or at least reach anywhere close to it. So here we are hitting the 9 years mark… Let’s hope for all the perfect imperfections in the next 365 days…

With that note, let me thank my readers…

You have been a constant support. I don’t visit any blogs anymore. But you still come and drop comments. That means the world and beyond to me. Thanks to my friends for patiently reading the blog links that I share… Your critical comments are the only source of improvement, trust me…

Happy Birthday dearest Locomente…

You are my alter-ego… My source of inspiration, expression and gratitude… Blessed to have this Locomente blog in my life and simply be Locomente at times (Well, mostly always).

Afterall… Miles to go before I sleep…

Until next year, cheers!