A-to-Z Challenge Reflections Post

I'm just going to tell you what really was, based on the questions that were considered worth reflecting on...
Working on the A-to-Z Challenge was wonderful. I took it for the first time, in fact, I just happened to chance upon it in December and I thought to myself, while signing up, 'Oh, so much fun, I'm totally going to have a ready alphabet by the time April comes!'
That did not happen. Not only did I not have a ready steady line of posts, I hadn't even thought of a theme. This blog was never meant for greatness. It is called 'Shreds & Shards', it contained deep and dark poetry of the personal kind, random ramblings of a college student. It began when blogging wasn't so much a fad. Even before this challenge began, I had some 10 odd followers, all fairly close friends or colleagues. And now I have over two scores! I feel loved and honoured, most importantly, read.
It was April 1st! And I thought, what the hell, let's do it. I thought I'd not have a theme and just wrote about 'Atticus'. But then, I logged in the next morning and saw the response... people liked it! So I thought I was going to be posting about fictional characters. I took out a pen and paper, jotted down the first set that popped into my head, from A to Z. That's it. I did think of Q, X, Y, and Z later on, but otherwise I knew at least what I was going to be writing about.
I began visiting other blogs, again, I was overwhelmed by the amount of dedication that people were putting into this challenge. Commenting was never an issue for me, if there was something I had to say, I'd say it, word verification or not!
I was having a ball! I was putting in 15 minutes into my posts, most of them were shoddy, and I was spending another 15 on commenting and replying. That's it. April was a busy month. V and K will vouch for it. Neither of them thought I was going to make it. I was busy at work, busy at home. On the personal front things were piling up one on top of another... it was crazy! Time management could've been an issue but for he fact that here was NO time at all, managed or unmanaged, days and nights were just seamlessly merging into one another. The only saving grace was that I was posting from the other side of the globe as compared to most others, so I had the advantage in terms of time zones! V and K were both amazing, helpful and motivating. They will never know just HOW grateful I am...
So many people in blogsphere said so many kind things, I'm going to feature them all here soon. I'm not doing it now because it isn't fair to hem for me to be jotting their names in a hurry,; I'll do it, and do it well. And next year, I'm probably going to stick to the same theme and have different characters, and my posts will be more prepared. I'm not such a shoddy writer, I am better, I will be better!
For the hosts, you guys were amazing, you were all over the place! It was hard work for me, I can't even imagine what it must've been like for you. Just one selfish thing, I so with this was happening in November and not April! Only because in November, it is 20 degrees here, while in April, it's 40! It's way too hot to be doing anything productive! But that's just me :P
If you read and liked, if you stopped by just today, if you've followed me, thank you. Your words are important, they make me want to be better. Good luck, stay happy, and keep the faith!

There will always be more to write...

Congratulations to all of you!
Udita
udita.banerjee@gmail.com

Z

Z is for 'Zhivago'.
I love Russian authors, I love the way they write. I'm fascinated by their lifestyle, their cold cold days and lands, their women, their courage. I'm still reading Dr. Zhivago. But I'm already in love with it. It begins with a funeral scene, a small boy, and his uncle. It goes on... with the Russian Revolution as a backdrop. Did you know that the author was awarded the Nobel? And did you know he refused it? I'm looking forward to keep at reading it and trying to find a way into the author's head... all those years past...

Everything Russia seems... cold and blue

So far: Atticus, Beth, Cassius, Dumbledore, Estella, Francesca, Gandalf, Humbert, Ishmael, Jean-Baptiste, Kali, Long John Silver & Lisbeth, Miu, Nancy, Oliver, Piyali, Quentin, Rebecca, Scarlett, Tita, Ursula, Valhalla, Watson, Xenophilius, Yossarian

I'm writing every day of April for the A-to-Z April Blogging Challenge 2012. I'm writing of characters of fiction that are immortal and touch hundreds of lives everyday...

PS: Ladies & Gentlemen, it has been a real pleasure being on this journey with you!

Y

Y is for 'Yossarian'.
Catch-22 has been the bane of my reading life. Never have I tried so many times to read a book and failed. The worst bit is that i have been recommended this book my so many many people that I know and readers that i respect that I really want to read it. But I just can't! It is so frustrating. Yossarian is the principal character and I wrote about him here because I need inspiration to read about him in this strange book which doesn't follow a proper timeline of events!

A Catch-22 for me!

So far: Atticus, Beth, Cassius, Dumbledore, Estella, Francesca, Gandalf, Humbert, Ishmael, Jean-Baptiste, Kali, Long John Silver & Lisbeth, Miu, Nancy, Oliver, Piyali, Quentin, Rebecca, Scarlett, Tita, Ursula, Valhalla, Watson, Xenophilius

I'm writing every day of April for the A-to-Z April Blogging Challenge 2012. I'm writing of characters of fiction that are immortal and touch hundreds of lives everyday...

X

X is for ‘Xenophilius’.
‘Xenos’ and ‘phile’ – the lover of the strange…
He is the father of Luna Lovegood in the Harry Potter books. He is the editor of ‘The Quibbler’ and lives in a rock-shaped house. His magazine mostly prints out-of-the-world unbelievable things but as the stories begin to emerge in weirder ways, we find that sometimes, he does print sense. He’s never accepted as normal or mainstream and because of his beliefs, even his daughter Luna is considered to be a weirdo. Although, they both are very courageous, I admit. I’ve always felt that his character was dubious, sometimes good and sometimes not so much. I had not, in fact, even thought of him until a fellow blogger suggested it. Lover of strange things, indeed!

Candyfloss textured hair... seriously?!

So far: Atticus, Beth, Cassius, Dumbledore, Estella, Francesca, Gandalf, Humbert, Ishmael, Jean-Baptiste, Kali, Long John Silver & Lisbeth, Miu, Nancy, Oliver, Piyali, Quentin, Rebecca, Scarlett, Tita, Ursula, Valhalla, Watson

I'm writing every day of April for the A-to-Z April Blogging Challenge 2012. I'm writing of characters of fiction that are immortal and touch hundreds of lives everyday...

W

W is for ‘Watson’.

The dear man, who assisted Holmes like an assistant would, cared for him like a friend, and brought him cases like an agent. Dear Dr. Watson, who was forever overwhelmed, like us readers, by Holmes’ extraordinary powers of observation and deduction. ‘Elementary’ that wasn’t elementary at all. He even saved or almost saved Holmes a few times. But for him, we would never have heard of those brilliant tales. I’ll keep this post till here, it’s been a long day.

Holmes and Watson (Sidney Paget)

So far: Atticus, Beth, Cassius, Dumbledore, Estella, Francesca, Gandalf, Humbert, Ishmael, Jean-Baptiste, Kali, Long John Silver & Lisbeth, Miu, Nancy, Oliver, Piyali, Quentin, Rebecca, Scarlett, Tita, Ursula, Valhalla

I'm writing every day of April for the A-to-Z April Blogging Challenge 2012. I'm writing of characters of fiction that are immortal and touch hundreds of lives everyday...

V

V is for 'Valhalla'.
In Norse mythology, a valkyrie (from Old Norse valkyrja “chooser of the slain”) is one of a host of female figures who decide who will die in battle. Fascinating, yes?
Here, in Paulo Coelho's 'Valkyries', it is a group of women dressed in leather jackets and chunk, antique jewellery who ride on dirt motorbikes (I already have a very brazen image in my mind) and live a floating life, like a mirage. They meet and guide travelers, have cult rituals in abandoned caves, talk to the coyotes, and make love to strangers in the desert sands to satiate themselves. This book should have been as famous as the Alchemist, the imagery is beautiful…
Valhalla is one of these women, she is sort of like a leader. After she is done with the author an his wife, they feel like whatever they knew so far was not themselves at all. Her personality is magnetic and shifting, she is there but no really there. I love powerful women!

The battle, the final resting place...

So far: Atticus, Beth, Cassius, Dumbledore, Estella, Francesca, Gandalf, Humbert, Ishmael, Jean-Baptiste, Kali, Long John Silver & Lisbeth, Miu, Nancy, Oliver, Piyali, Quentin, Rebecca, Scarlett, Tita, Ursula

I'm writing every day of April for the A-to-Z April Blogging Challenge 2012. I'm writing of characters of fiction that are immortal and touch hundreds of lives everyday...

U

U is for ‘Ursula’.
The mother in ‘One Hundred Years of Solitude’, she is the wife of Colonel Buendia and along with her husband, the founder of Macondo. This book is so unreal that certain events are almost believable. Ursula oversees six out of the seven generations of Buendias covered in this book, she is over a hundred years of age.
I loved her devotion towards her old and senile husband and towards her many strange kids and grandkids. She was an intelligent woman, she found a way from Macondo to the outside world when no one else could. She took stray waif-like children in, she was kind. And like a lot of other characters in the book, she was quite a bit of magic. Ursula, although the name has an evil tone to it, was a woman of great strength; she reminds me of my Grandma.

The author and the book

So far: Atticus, Beth, Cassius, Dumbledore, Estella, Francesca, Gandalf, Humbert, Ishmael, Jean-Baptiste, Kali, Long John Silver & Lisbeth, Miu, Nancy, Oliver, Piyali, Quentin, Rebecca, Scarlett, Tita

I'm writing every day of April for the A-to-Z April Blogging Challenge 2012. I'm writing of characters of fiction that are immortal and touch hundreds of lives everyday...