Apr 27, 2011 04:48 PM
3695 Views
It was a long journey that started almost 7 years back, Dec 2003 was when I wrote my first Review on Mouthshut. And then I started to read most of the Star writers reviews, people like premjit, sujoy_g, lavagopal, rjois. These were the stars of Mouthshut, whose reviews attracted so many users. Like any one else, I dreamt of being in that league, to be seen as one of the stars on Mouthshut.
2004.2005, 2006, 2007, 2008. The years kept passing, and my addiction to Mouthshut just grew more and more. If I had to share something it would have to be on Mouthshut. To be honest, Mouthshut was the last kind of place, some one like me would be in. This was a site, where brands and products were rated, and analyzed on. And I was a zero in that area. To me both Cadburys and Nestle seemed the same, and I preferred the former, only because it was a childhood favorite of mine. Never much of a restaurant lover, any day I would prefer the humble dhaba or the Darshini in Bangalore for a quick bite, or the road side eateries. And I could add nothing to what was the difference between a Sony Mobile or an Ericsson mobile, to me any mobile was fine as long as I could talk to my friends with it.
But fortunately Mouthshut, had the categories for my other passions- movies, books, music and sports. A born cinemaniac, a die hard bibliophile and a music lover to the core, those categories allowed me to share my views on what I was really passionate about. And before the diaries, came, I would pick up some advice topics to share my thoughts on political and social issues, quite often trying to force fit into a category. What counted was that there seemed to be a whole lot of people on MS, who seemed to share my passions, and that is where I began to meet them. And I just wrote, it was like Mouthshut became my own personal blog. Any topic on which I had an idea, I would just come and write it out, sometimes trying to fit it into some category, this was much before diaries were introduced.
From 2005-2007 was the peak period, when I was the most active on Mouthshut, where I was like publishing a review almost every 3rd or 4th day. But it was not the Star Writer or any kind of records I wrote, for me writing was the best way to express myself. I just wanted to share my views through my writing, my ideas, my passions, my likes, and my dislikes. It was like a caravan, I met people here, made friends, some of them really wonderful people, and then somewhere down the line they disappeared. Every year got used to seeing a whole group of writers I knew on Mouthshut, quitting en masse.I did keep in touch with some personally, but lost contact with others.
It was from late 2008 to now, that my appearances on Mouthshut had become more erratic, more irregular. Many reasons, a feeling that I was stuck, writing on other sites, many of my long time friends quitting, too many changes in the format. I did make attempts to come back in, be more regular, but somehow they did not last long. Maybe it was because of the fact, that was having a whole lot of stuff on hand. Also many new faces whom I never knew much, missing most of my old friends, many of whom seemed to have quit. In the meanwhile there was Facebook and then Twitter. My 350th review was written on May 18, 2008 which is almost like 3 years back, and that is one of the longest gap I ever had on Mouthshut.
Again my review no 399, was written on Aug 18, 2010, and I had planned to put up my review no 400 soon after. But a whole lot of stuff happened, but most importantly, I had lost the passion and interest in writing. I just could not bring myself to write anything, not just on Mouthshut, but anywhere else. Blame it on Twitter, when I could send half a dozen messages on a topic, get the responses, why would I have to spend so much effort on writing something.Also was continually exhausted with all that writing, not just on Mouthshut, but even on the other forums. And I strongly believe that if you are not interested or passionate about some thing, makes no sense in forcing yourself to do that. Add to I don't even get paid for what I write.
The 400th review of mine is not for any records on Mouthshut, I don't even know how many more I can write. But the reason I choose to write again is simple, to keep alive the passion of writing I have in me. I just don't want to lose it any time, because it is this that keeps me grounded, keeps me sane in an otherwise insane world. And I hereby dedicate this to all those on my Trusted List, who took time off to read my ramblings.
