This day, four years past, sitting alone and idle just a few months after a series of extraordinary events shadowed my existence and equanimity, I chanced upon sulekha. The site promised to publish articles, if found readable. It took me a few more weeks to summon courage to send a write-up. The system then was one mailed and waited…then a few weeks later, after the article had been assessed by an editorial team, one got an email that the selected post would be published on such and such date. It was a nerve-racking wait, then presto, I got an acceptance and a date. Back then, in those forlorn and blue times, the article on the net gave me something to smile. A rare emotion during times of intense grief.

I posted a few more to sulekha expressions – then the editorial team stopped corresponding- it stayed silent. I lost a few articles and their fate, to me is still unknown. They neither published or wrote back saying they wouldn’t. I went on line again and again, everyday, to see if the articles were in print, but alas.

Then out of the blue, sulekha changed format, introducing blogs as a concept. Write anything, no editorial vetting…and I posted my first. Sporadically at first, a few personal hiccups, loss of computer, financial crunch, no internet fee – and such, kept me off now and then, till better circumstance and stability made me a regular.

Back then the site carried a hotlist roll, and I found ‘ixedoc’ climbing slowly upwards – I wanted to badly break into the top ten – somehow, it seemed to matter much to me, maybe an extension of ego, maybe a sense of being wanted, I interpolated the ranking and numbers to directly imply how many I belonged to or befriended – foolish in retrospect, but a very vital self assessment score I gave much value and premium to -when all of a sudden, just as I reached 13, the listing ceased abruptly. Change, once again.

New bloggers, fresh blood, more organization and professionalism. I went berserk, blogging almost every day, outpourings which I shudder to read now, rants, raves, regrets – slowly I made friends again, Meenakshi, Priya, Priyamvada, Akbar, Sameer, Sheik, Maria, Chillipie Ammayi,Ananth, Das Wunchsdenken, Interferon…so many more. A cozy circle of fellow bloggers.

Then, deluge. A host of new writers, bolder, brasher, better emerge. Sulekha becomes alive. The comments section takes a new meaning. It is lively and interactive… Tilo, Bunty, Supriya, Keshav, Bilingual, Enzo….…Bharathborn, Sujatha, Baab, so much talent, so many themes. And a new ranking system…. now it appears so odious, this listing (it wasn’t for me earlier) How one changes perception amazes.

Today as I enter my fifth year, I thank the site for giving me so much. It has found me new friends and reconnected me with old. I have had mail from scores of my old students who have chanced upon the site and rediscovered me. For the record, I have posted nearly 550 blogs, two thirds of which have been viewed a thousand time or more. One has been reproduced on seven sites, two have crossed seven thousand readership mark, three have won awards, one is made into a movie, four have appeared in newspapers, seven have seen print in medical journals…..eight have found their way as inclusions into published books…..

What does one say? Except sit back silent and thank you all…you have given me, sulekha. I cannot even begin to say how much all this means to me…this entry into my fifth year on the site