First Blog Anniversary!

Yayy! It's my first blog anniversary :-) I am feeling so accomplished :-) Well, I have written 45 miscellaneous posts in the first year. Hmmmm, I guess the number is not too bad. And woohoo!!! it's my lucky number 9. Ok, story behind number 9 - later. Well, today's date is 18th April, it's a number 9!! Ok ok story behind number 9 - later. 

Let me briefly summarize how I started blogging. Last year, one lazy winter evening, we planned to visit one of Manoj's close friend and his wife who had come to LA for a business trip. I had never met them before. We decided to meet them at Pismo beach and spend some time with them. On that trip, I made a very special friend named Aditi who has been my inspiration starting day one. The moment we met, we started talking as if we knew each other since ages. As a first impression, I got impressed by her sense of style and then her nail art caught my attention:) It was so beautiful!!! She mentioned about her love for sarees, her love for cooking, her love for traveling and her love for writing. I noticed her taking a lot of pictures of everything that caught her eye. Then she mentioned this will go on the blog, that will go on the blog and I started wondering - she being an entrepreneur, how does she get time to write/blog. I was like "Follow karna padega." After the Pismo beach trip, I followed her blog and got addicted to it. Her blog has a gold mine of interesting content. From her blog, it is so apparent that she is a great cook who loves to try new recipes and sometimes create her own. She is an artist when it comes to nail art. Her blog shows her interest in photography and traveling. And her love for sarees is unbelievable!!! The name of her blog is so-saree, which itself shows her immense love for sarees. On that day itself, I decided to start writing and putting my thoughts on paper no matter what they are. It became my routine for few weeks to go over her previous blog posts once every day. And so was born beingdhriti :)

Memories of Aditi and Jaya's first meet at Pismo beach!

Now, guess what! My first ever reader post following next! And guess what? It is from my one and only one motivation/friend, Aditi. Over to you Aditi ---

Heartiest congratulation to Jaya on her first blog anniversary.

Cant believe Jaya's blog is a year old already.

Jaya is a wonderful person and I am thankful that I met her.

Beautiful, loving, adventurous and creative…it's really hard to find all these qualities in one person, so I feel Jaya is a gem and a rare find.

For her blog anniversary Jaya wanted me to pen down a guest post. I was too happy about it, but the next second I blanked out.

Jaya has a better fashion sense than me, so outfit post was out of question. She does better nail art than me, so nail art post was again no good. She is a better cook than me, so no recipes too.

So what do I write that would be a best fit for her blog on its anniversary?

Fortunately, I came across a comment on my blog by Jaya, where she had appreciated my story telling skills. So I thought, why not write a story post on her blog's anniversary.

But which one???..was the question.

After weeks of contemplation, I decided I would share my favorite story on Jaya's blog.

A beautiful story that will unlock an age old mystery for the men, and bring a huge smile on the faces of all the women reading it.

I am sure some readers already know about it. But for the benefit of those who don't, here you go…

What Women Want?

As a young girl, my sister had narrated a beautiful story to me. (yeah story telling runs in my family..!)

I feel this story kind of altered my way of looking at things. It made me change my perception of the man I want to be with for the rest of my life.

The story...

King Arthur was imprisoned by the king of a neighboring kingdom. 

The monarch could have easily killed him, but since King Arthur was such a noble and valiant ruler, he offered King Arthur his freedom in exchange for an answer to a question. 

King Arthur would have exactly a year to find the answer to that question

and if he could not answer it, he would be put to death.

The Question: What Women Want?

King Arthur was flummoxed..he knew this was the most difficult question, but he decided to accept the Monarch's challenge, since it was any time better than immediate death.

King Arthur consulted all the wise men and women in his kingdom for an appropriate answer, but none had a good one.

Many people in his kingdom had advised King Arthur to consult an old witch who lived on the outskirts of his kingdom, but King Arthur kept procrastinating it, since the witch was notorious for charging exorbitant prices.

The last day of the year had arrived and King Arthur still had no answer. So as a last resort he went to the witch and consulted her.

The witch was old, hunchbacked and very very ugly.

On hearing the question, the witch said that she would answer the question on one condition. If King Arthur agreed to get her married to one of his most noble knight and his dear friend Sir Lancelot.

Horrified with the request, King Arthur returned to his castle. He couldn't burden his dear friend for the sake of his life. When Sir Lancelot heard about the witch's weird request, he was shocked but he insisted and forced King Arthur to accept the witches proposal as nothing was more important than the King's Life.

The witch's answer... "Women want... to be in charge of their own life"

Everyone who heard the answer was convinced and knew that King Arthur's Life would now be saved.

Even the monarch who had challenged King Arthur was elated when he heard the answer and granted back King Arthur's life.

A grand wedding took place to marry the witch and Sir Lancelot.

It was the newly wed couple's first night and Sir Lancelot went to his bedroom feeling nervous.

But he was in for a surprise.

He saw the most enchanting beauty he had ever seen in his entire lifetime, lying on his bed.

Sir Lancelot asked her who she was, and the pretty lady answered that she was indeed the witch. Sir Lancelot couldn't believe his ears and eyes too. But how? was his question. The witch said... since Sir Lancelot was so good to her, she decided to grant him a boon.

She would be a pretty lady for half of the day and her original ugly self during the other half.

She asked Sir Lancelot to pick, which part of the day he would want her pretty?

At broad daylight, when he could flaunt her in front of his friends, or at night when he could get intimate with her.

After thinking for a moment, Sir Lancelot gave the most unpredictable answer.

He said ... it is her life and she can choose whatever she wants. He is no one to decide in this matter.

Hearing this the witch was more than happy.

She said that she would stay beautiful all the time, because Sir Lancelot let her be in charge of her life and she would readily do anything for him now.

This story made me realize that the freedom to be in charge of one's life is the most gratifying and liberating feeling.

And nothing can replace that feeling.

So what do you guys think?

Do you like this story? Let me know in the comments below.