Second Anniversary

      September is a wonderful month. There is excitement in the air. The children are back to school , the parents have some down time , summer is morphing into fall and its also time to celebrate this blog’s anniversary. Its the second one this year. Hence now is a good time to recapitulate the highlights of this past year.

Spring Celebration of four seasons in this blog.

Summer

Fall

Winter

      First and foremost, there has been a lot of photography, that followed the rhythms of the four seasons, in the northeast of America (see above). Secondly, there has been a celebration of color in three mediums, namely, nature, literature (yellow and red) and  architecture (green). Thirdly, much to my delight, there has been a lot of writing, that took different forms e.g.:

• Farmer’s almanac ( grapes, strawberries, tomatoes )
• Gardener’s diary ( lilies, nasturtiums etc )
• A mother’s journal (tulips, nursery school hunt, kiddy art, life’s lesson )
• An artist’s palette ( spring green, pink and blue, watercolors )
• An architect’s portfolio ( nursery school, factory design )
• A glimpse into my book ( a short story )
• Movies ( e.g. one , two ), music (pappu) and even dance (e.g. one  and two )
• Book reviews ( e.g. one, two, three etc.)

      Since enough has been shared with all of you, about my book, I decided to write about books that I have read. Writing book reviews was very enjoyable as it gave me something new to write about and use my critiquing skills as an architect. It also made me analyze the writing style of other writers and helped me to confirm in writing, my understanding of other books.

      This has had a very positive affect on this blog, as it has attracted many new subscribers. Keeping them in mind, many posts were prepared with links to old articles, so that they understand the depth of my writing. Also in order to share these book reviews with a wider audience, some of them have been posted on Amazon, which is linked to this blog now! This is with the hope of generating traffic in amazonian numbers and to get the attention of literary agents and publishers, towards my book.

      Now for another development. Starting a blog is like planting a tree. The different categories are like its branches. When you plant a tree you cannot predict which branch will grow into what direction and how far it will grow. Similarly you cannot predict which direction a category or a post will grow in and how far it would create ripples. To make this point clear let me tell you of a great example. Some time back a kindergarten teacher put a query on the web regarding if anyone had a home-made film showing how a sunflower plant grows? In response to this I sent her a link from this blog that contains photos explaining the life cycle of a sunflower. Lo and behold, this post got so many hits that now it ranks as the second most popular post,  with over 800 hits!  Who would have guessed?

      As this blog grows I am sure it will find many applications in curing nature-deficit disorder, expose children in urban settings, to the beauty of nature, changing seasons and generate an awareness about the green planet. So if you are a teacher in a school with smart boards and computers, please feel free to bring this blog into your classroom. Many of the posts can be used as an educational tool (it will be explained in another post). Except for my book (which is copyrighted) everything is free for you to share with your students.

      Now as part of the anniversary celebration, here are a few vital statistics:

• It has crossed the milestone of 20,000 hits and is approaching 25,000 hits now.
• As of today, 144 posts have been published and 478 comments received. This does not include the more than 50 spam comments it receives in European languages, each month
• Here are the top 10 posts:

1. Democratic race in red and yellow colors – 858 hits
2.  The lifecycle of a sunflower – 844 hits
3. From Mother India to Indra Nooyi - 714 hits
4. Concept for a nature inspired stadium design – 455 hits
5. Sun dappled paintings by mother nature – 452 hits
6. Reflections of life - 370 hits
7. Architecture – 354 hits
8. From Vermeer to banana leaves - 349 hits
9. Creating spring with the colors of winter – 337 hits
10. Synopsis of the book – 319 hits

      With this, I thank all of you for visiting this blog regularly. Please do not hesitate to leave comments, as the synergy between the blogger and the visitor, leads to new ideas. Special thanks are also to Lata and Nanabhau, who follow this blog religiously and leave thoughtful comments. Lastly, keep visiting this blog and spread the word, for once the book is out, you can tell the world that you knew me when I was happily blogging

Ratna

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BLOG STATS: 24,751 HITS

Last year on this blog: First blog anniversary in summall

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Success is a journey, not a destination.

- Deepak Chopra