A Wake-up Call for Blogging

I clearly remember ‘That Day’…..The day of the ‘Wake-Up Call for my Blogging’ !

It was November 21st, 2016 and I was just back from work all exhausted. As soon as the chores for the evening were taken care of, I hit the bed with a vengeance of a trekker. Just after 20 mins into my siesta, I was awakened by a call on my mobile. Usually , I leave it on silent mode till evening, but on that day I forgot to Switch on the ‘Silent mode’. I am never the one to ignore calls on my mobile , so invariably but grudgingly I attended to the phone call from an unknown number. The voice at the other end introduced herself as Aarti from BlogAdda. She informed that I have won the #DearZindagi contest. From then, the conversation went on as follows:

Me : ” What? Could you repeat whatever you said”

Aarti: “Meenakshi, you are one of the Top Winners of the Dear Zindagi contest”

Me: ” O.K..now who is this on the call? Are you done with your prank”

Aarti : *laughing away* “No, this isn’t a prank, I am indeed calling from BlogAdda”

Me: “Well….hmmmm…I guess, you are mistaken.Could you please re-check and get back to me. I did go through the list and my name doesn’t figure in it”. ( Actually, in a haste I had run through the list of another parallel contest for the ‘Dear Zindagi’ contest but I was over-confidently arguing with this lady)

Aarti : “I have the list in front of me and I see your name with your blog name as polkajunction. Still, I will check and get back to you”

Now, after this call, I again frantically went through the ‘Wrong list’ and was fuming at the prankster in my monologues.The catch was- that the list was put up few seconds earlier and the link was yet to be updated. With the noon siesta hanging in the air, while I went to make some tea, it was Aarti again on the call. This time she politely and confidently assured me that I am indeed a Winner and asked me for my willingness to meet ‘Alia Bhatt’.( For readers, not familiar with her- she is an established Bollywood actress.You may read more about her on Wikipedia )

My Moment 

While on the call I went through the correct list again and from then on – a strange sense of surrealness took over me.

I profusely apologised to Aarti for acting so dumb, but strangely she tried to play it down by saying that this is how usually prize winners reacted in disbelief. I am sure she must have gone through this process many times before. She informed me that the event was to take place the very next day and expressed regret upon lack of time. I was overwhelmed and thanked her again and again while she sent the itinerary of ‘The Event’ over e-mail. The mail mentioned the venue as ‘The Leela- Gurgaon’ and time as 12:30, the next day. While confirming to attend the event , I also added that it’s O.K for her to inform me if there was a mistake in the list of Winners . Else, it would be embarrassing to go ahead to the venue and then get to know that there was a goof up. She laughed and assured me to go ahead.

Surrealism

From that moment I was acting bizarre! Not that I was star struck, not yet. I have had my moments with celebrities throughout my life and I know I can manage to meet and interact with them  by approaching a family friend who is an Assistant Director to one of the most respected Director and works in his Production House (Though I will never ever ask him for such an obligation)The unexplained feeling was one of ‘Relief and Jubilation’ of winning the contest.

Madness

Next, I kept jumping up and down, woke up my hubby shouting that I am a winner. He shooed me away saying “You are blogging too much and you need rest” and I persisted with my excitement. Hearing this commotion, my son woke up half asleep and gave a bewildered look. He must have thought that his mother has gone insane. Not their fault though. Definitely next time, I should keep them informed about my contest entries!

Finally , I managed to show them the mail from BlogAdda and thats when my son’s persistent requests to accompany me, started. Even before he requesting me, I had silently sent a mail to Aarti asking her if I can bring in my husband and son for the event. This, as these two have been at the receiving end of my blogging spree. 

Honestly, I intended to win the merchandise of ‘Dear Zindagi’ or atleast a couple of movie tickets for the same! But winning the contest was purely unintentional. Not that I doubted my capability, but, because I am a newbie to the blogosphere,I had my own apprehensions. For this contest, I overlooked the deadline due to hectic activity at work front and actually submitted it at the last moment. Jotted down the ‘Letter to Life’ in under an hour, pouring my heart out in simple words -without any literary charms but staying true to myself. All through these months I thought that such contests are like playing the rafflecopter! However a win can change your perception in a minuscule moment. Hence , I can confidently say that – and the next day of the actual meeting was the best of 2016! More on the meeting in my next post..

Why this day for ‘That Day’ prompt!

This win was a big booster at a time when I could not handle too many things and wanted to quit. I had mentioned the same in one of my blog posts for a Blogging Challenge and support poured in from my friends. I worked really hard , invested a lot of personal time all the while keeping a full-time job, being a hands-on mother to my son, moving places as part of my husband’s job and battling some health-problems too. This win served as a Wake-up call (literally) at the right time. Had it come earlier, may be I would have become lethargic. But, because it came when I was planning to quit, it made me take up blogging passionately. So much so, that I have taken the Self-hosting way. I am sure there are many out there who are doing this and still putting up wonderful content on their blogs. Kudos to all these women…Take a bow !