Of Beginnings



I started this blog in 2009 after we shifted to Bhubaneswar from Keonjhar, just a day after my matriculation exam. It was this first time I experienced the pain of going away from friends and all things familiar. It was the first time I dreaded making new friends, in a new school, in a more advanced town than I was ever used to. It was the first time I experienced 'Change' on such a large scale. All this and more had started taking its toll on my mind.

It was then that I started this blog with the sole purpose of writing poems. If you check my oldest posts, they are all poems. I didn't know how to construct a prose. I didn't have any context either. I would express my solitude and imagination through poetry for the first two years.

Then I started reading a lot of novels and fictional pieces. So then started book reviews, as I discovered the magic of books all around me. Then came in movies which bowled me over and I started jotting down my thoughts and altering perspectives through movie reviews. Young adult novels, especially .pdf versions flooded my laptop- the paranormal, gothic, dystopian and alternative narratives intrigues my curiosity. A new world opened itself up when I was in college doing my B.Tech. It was the Korean dramas- a new culture, a new language, a new perspective on human emotions- the world I didn't know existed. So I had another topic to cover in my blog posts.

I stumbled upon BlogAdda and Indiblogger on the way. I started participating in challenges, blogging with a motive, for a cause. It was another turning point in my writing. I realized blogging doesn't need to be just for personal engagement, or just a hobby. I could use my words for a greater cause too. That made me really happy and excited. Then came in blog marathons, AtoZ challenges and some newbie awards in between. I loved the experience in each of those. I started receiving books from authors to review. That was also a big turning point for me. I was gaining something physical from blogging. Receiving vouchers for #HappyHours too was awesome. The first earning of my life was through Indiblogger.

Then somewhere in the way, I had discovered my favorite blogs and had started frequently visiting those. I loved the words, the passion in them, which I tried to inculcate in my writing too. I had some of them guest post here at Magic Moments. I did some guest posts in their blogs. And the exchange was new to me, taught me a lot. I submitted posts to WE - an online magazine which I had witnessed two bloggers collaborate and start. It was a huge success. I learned a lot from contributing too. I had seen it in its nascent stage, in progress stage, the successful stage, the sudden shutdown stage and the recent reopening stage too.

My blog has been my therapeutic release and hibernation ground. It is my dream and travel journal, my dear diary and so much more. I am so thankful for that.


#UBC , #DailyChatter

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Queeristan by Parmesh Sahani

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  Queeristan (Amazon Link) Thanks to Audible Free Trial I listened to this amazing non-fiction on LGBTQ inclusion in Indian workplaces. Author Parmesh Sahani identifies as gay Indian, working closely with Godrej higher management and employees for years to create an inclusive workplace, both legally and in spirit. This book is a result of those years of experience, research, collaboration with individuals from difference spectrum of the society and organizations who has successfully transitioned into a queer friendly one.   Indian history is inclusive. From the Khajuraho temple architectures, to Konark to the Rig Veda, there is existing proofs even 2000 years ago of Indian inclusiveness of queer. It’s the draconian British law that criminalised it, which was scraped in 2009, came into effect once again following a sad judgement in 2013 and eventually was scraped off for good in 2018. I am in awe of the lawyers who fought this legal battle- colleagues and partners – Arundhati Katju

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