thanks

To the 19 folks who voted for me at Indiblogger, thank you. (I’ve been out of town since Friday and just saw the results)

I can account for about 10 of my regular readers who came forward and let me know, but the rest are left un-named so far. It is indeed gratifying to know that there are readers out there for their own reasons remain silent and watch from the wings, quiet and appreciative, like little content shy guardian angels.

For a blog of perhaps 30 odd subscribed readers, 19’s a fine number. It brings a smile to my face to the kind of endorsement this “contest” has brought to the surface. Not that one needed a “contest” to prove one’s mettle or capabilities or loyalties, but these are the bridges between the said and the unsaid.

My fables mean the world to me. Each is born of a different need, all sharing the same sentiment of wanting to be expressed in a language that speaks the truth to me and interpreted differently by everyone else. They originally started off as a vent, and have now morphed to mean a lot more.

My fables own me. The words that charge out do not come out of careful deliberation, something that’s very evident for a fine-tuned reader as I tend to publish un-edited pieces. I, Rads am not responsible for the premise of most, they appear when they wish and of their own free will. One just has to look at the dates and the frequency to know that one doesn’t plan such writings. They do not stick to the traditional ‘Short Story” description. They aren’t grand, they don’t always tell a story pretty, they do not have an ending, never mind a happy one, and they do not always leave the reader wanting more, or spellbound even, but they are my fancies and I write for me.

Please do not misunderstand my intentions. I am no snob by saying this, and am surely not treating my reader irreverently. The whole intention of jotting them down on a public blog is that what gives me joy and a satisfaction, I love to share. It’s out there not for accolades or for praise or even critique (all have always been welcome however) but purely for the need to leave it out in the open. Closed containers eventually stink.

As a few of you are aware, I am averse to online contests. Not that there’s anything wrong with them, but this is my take. Real life has its share of challenges, competitions and races. Blogging (both my blogs) has been a hobby to me, and will always be. To ones who see it the way I do, am sure you understand that mixing the two adds stress and kills the creative spirit that should remain unblemished till that point in time when the artist is ready him/herself. Also, there’s this need to better oneself each time. Race within and the rest takes care of itself.

So why did I ‘nominate’ myself? On a whim, and to prove a hunch I’ve had all along. I had no haughty notions of winning. In fact, I didn’t think I would even gather more than a handful of supporters. This is a pleasant (and a little unsettling to an extent) surprise. As many of you have said, my fables are difficult to understand and even require a few reads to ‘get’ them. Even then, many are unsure if they interpret it the way the fable was meant to.

What the reader should understand is that what the reader perceives could very well be different from what I have in mind. I love that option. Where one can take a bunch of words and make it their own. It’s fantastic. There is immense happiness when one does ‘get’ it the way I wrote it, but when  give room for interpretation, and people run with it, it speaks volumes of the readers themselves.

I stop.

Thank you once again for reading my fables.