I decided to participate in this year’s April A to Z Blogging Challenge at the eleventh hour, just after having returned from a two-month trip to India. I hadn’t had time to process the experience myself, let alone to come up with 26 public-facing posts. Almost as soon as I had started I wished I hadn’t, but then again, I didn’t want to drop out partway through. Now it’s done, and I’m relieved. The pieces may not have been as thoughtful or well-written as I might have liked, but they’re out there, and together they make up My India Trip: An A to Z Journey.
First I’ll list all the month’s posts, with clickable hyperlinks. Then, for my fellow participants in the April A to Z Challenge, I’ll say a little about how the month went for me and my interactions with the other blogs and bloggers.
My India Trip: An A to Z Journey
526. A is for Atya, Address, Ashes
527. B is for Books
528. C is for Clothing
529. D is for Drumsticks
531. F is for Fruit (local and in season)
532. G is for Goa
533. H is for Holi
535. J is for Jewelry
536. K is for the Konkan
537. L is for Lucknow
539. N is for Namkeen
540. O is for Old Age
541. Pronunciation: Indian English
542. Q is for Questions
544. S is for SPARROW
545. T is for Trees
546. U is for Urdu
548. W is for Waqt
549. X is for Xacuti
550. Y is for Yoga (Reflections)
551. Z is for Zameen
There were new blogs that I discovered just this year, some of which I followed fairly regularly and others which I only discovered late and want to return to or catch up with. It’s always fun to reconnect with fellow-bloggers from previous challenges, and this time was no exception. Some of them have become regular “blogpals” and we follow each other during the year as well.
There were the bloggers and non-blogging friends who weren’t participating in the Challenge but who read and commented on my A to Z posts nonetheless. And finally there were the friends and family members who responded to my A-to-Z posts on Facebook or via email.
New-found blogs: How Would You Know, Life with Mia, Women’s Legacy Project, A Multitude of Musings, To My Recollection, Stacey Explores, Healers Write, Writers Heal, and The Twenty and Something—which I think was my favorite new blog this year.
Reconnections and year-round blogpals: The Curry Apple Orchard, The Multicolored Diary, Madly-in-Verse, Sharon Cathcart, Finding Eliza
Blogpals not participating in the Challenge: Calmgrove, Doses of Wild YAM, Rattlebag and Rhubarb.
Friends and family who commented on Facebook or via email: Abhay, Adrienne, Andy, Anna, Barbara, Carolyn, Cynthia, Erica, Jude, Madhavi, Margaret, Nalini, Norah, Pallavi, Peta, Pinakin, Sabine, Sarah, Sartaz, Shruti, Smita, Sue, Shoba, and Urmi. And Andrew, who did all the proofreading for me.
With regard to how the Challenge went and how it might improve next year: I appreciated the visit from Challenge founder Arlee Bird (Tossing it Out) when I was about a third of the way through and was starting to flag. I needed the positive reinforcement and it was a shot in the arm (inadvertent use of vaccine idiom!) that came just at the right time. I didn’t find it easy to look up the themes of my fellow-Challenge participants, but just found myself responding to people who posted a comment on my blog, and when I had a few free moments, going down the Master List and randomly clicking on blogs that had interesting names.
How I might improve next year would be to write at least some of my posts in advance and learn how to schedule them. Then I might have more time left over to comment on other blogs after scrambling to post my own. As it was, I was perennially a day or two behind. Thank goodness for the catch-up day on Sunday—except for the last Sunday of the month, when I suddenly remembered that April hath only 30 days, and had to write my last two posts in quick succession.
Thank you all!
Tell Me Another 
Congrats for completing!
Beth
https://bethlapinsatozblog.wordpress.com/
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Thank you, Beth! Thought I’d never get there.
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Hey Josna. It’s good to read you again. Two months in India sounds divine.
I hope to read your posts this month. I took the NaPoWriMo route this year:)
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Arti! How are you? It’s good to hear from you again after a long time. I was wondering about you this April. I didn’t participate in the A to Challenge last year either, only because it was my last semester of teaching before retirement and I was stretched too thin. How was NaPoWriMo?
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A thoughtful reflection, Josna – and I’m glad you decided to play. There’s no getting around how challenging it can be to do your posts in the moment, but you certainly get to celebrate a job well done!
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Congratulations on finishing the challenge, even tho you started at the 11th hour! It’s an accomplishment.
Dena for Operation Awesome
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Thank you, Dena. I’ve just been to look at Operation Awesome, which I hadn’t heard of before. It sounds as if you do terrific work and I like your theme for the challenge. Must go read some of the interviews!
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[…] in Tell me Another (story) does just that – she shares stories about a recent visit home to India from the […]
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I really enjoyed your theme of the visit to India, getting to know other cultures through blogs is one of the great joys of the A to Z. I particularly like the way the dateline sweeping round the world means that posts from India come on first, then Europe, and America last, giving a time-separated diversity – of course you are writing from America about India which adds another twist!
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Thank you for this, Andrew, and for having included my blog in your Road Trip post as well. (BTW, when is the A to Z road trip happening and where do we post?) Like you, I always enjoy the way people in different parts of the world are awake and posting while others are sleeping. When I wake in the mornings, I look for messages from friends and fellow-bloggers in Asia, East to West, and then Europe; next the US with the East Coast first and the West Coast later; and finally the Pacific islands, New Zealand and Australia, who are posting for the next day before I turn in for the night. Last night before I went to bed I sent messages to friends in the UK about the election results that were coming in while most people in the US were sleeping.
I enjoyed your theme for the month very much, and was just thinking this morning how much my late uncle in England would have enjoyed it too. He would have got a kick out of so many of your idioms and would have had some stories to tell about them. Thanks again, Josna
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I think the Road trip post is in a few days and there might be a list but it’s not very rigid – most people just keep visiting blogs they didn’t have time for but I like to make these review posts and then tell people about them. Thanks for your comment – glad you enjoyed it…
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Agreed. Now is the time to share reviews, when people are still visiting.
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I experienced your A-Z trip through India as savory, sweet and deeply satisfying. From political issues, delicious food and fondly remembered places I learned so many new things about India and you. I doubt that your A-Z challenge could be improved upon. Writing quickly about recent experiences may be hard on the writer but the reader appreciates the immediacy and genuine feelings that shine through. Thank you!
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Thank you, dear Norah, for your sweet feedback and for having followed along faithfully throughout the month. I was afraid that too many of the posts were too superficial, so I’m glad you learned something–and yes, probably as much about me as about India!
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I feel that your posts (I still have to catch up on the rest of then) were well written and thoughtful. I enjoyed reading about your travels.
You and I may have crossed paths during a previous A-to-Z challenge. Was your previous theme about your childhood growing up? It would have been 3 or 4 years ago.
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Hari OM
Excellent round-up… and cheers for the shout-out! YAM xx
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I am glad you participated. I always enjoy your posts. It isn’t difficult to preschedule.
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Thank you, Kristin. Your blog sets a very high standard. It was thanks to you that I was prompted to participate this year.
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thank you for your ideas, your observations, your persistence, your humor, your tenderness, your language. hugs bine
Prof.Dr. Sabine Broeck Universität Bremen
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Thank YOU, dear. (And what are you doing up at this hour?) Love, J
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