I still can’t believe I am writing a post for the #DecadeBlogHop. But as they say, a few things are written in your destiny. Ever since this blog hop was announced, I wanted to participate in it but due to personal commitments, I didn’t feel that I could handle the required commitment and can give my 100% to it. But when I saw Rashi’s facebook update for Guest Posts, the writer in me couldn’t stop herself. So, here I am with my Decade post which was destined to be a part of this grand blog hop.

 

It’s been 14 years since I have been in the USA.  During this period, I learned a lot, faced a few challenges but every time I learned something valuable from them. Let me walk you through my last decade’s journey. Let me re-live those years with you. The biggest challenge so far was my Visa status. I came here on H4 Visa which has its restrictions. One of the biggest restrictions is not able to work.  A Management Graduate aspiring to work was not allowed to work. It wasn’t a very good or should I say an easy thing to accept. But as I said, I learned something new from challenges. It took me a while to accept it but it didn’t stop me from exploring what I never thought I would be doing. It gave me a new direction to look at. It introduced me to the writer in me.

 

My Decade story-10 years fast forward in a blink of an eye

 

2010 is special to me in its way. I wrote my first article in 2010. Wow..while writing this post, I am realizing that my writing journey started in 2010. I used to write on and off but my writing being published somewhere with my name on it….this happened in 2010. I wrote my first parenting article for Austin South Asian Newsletter. For the first time, I experienced the feeling of pride and happiness that one gets by seeing their name as a writer. That article opened the doors to the world of writing for me. Since then, there was no looking back. I wrote a couple of more articles for the same newsletter and later became the author of their parenting section. Who knew with that one article, I was writing the destiny of a budding writer in me?

 

I won’t go year by year. But I want to share with you a few special moments that made the last decade special and memorable for me. Many things have happened. A few I tried for the first time and a few I got better at.

 

I got back to my studies. Management and Psychology is my all-time favorite combination. So, I fulfilled my dream by enrolling for a few courses with this combination. Believe me, it was so much fun to get into the study mode. Well, it wasn’t very easy with a Kindergartener by my side. Now, no one was there to offer me a cup of coffee while I was busy taking notes. On the contrary, I was taking care of milkshakes, lunch boxes ideas, school drop-offs and pick-ups..ohh yes. I haven’t added the regular household chores. Unfortunately, here we don’t have the luxury of household help. So, I will call it an accomplishment and pat my back.

 

Once the courses were over, my second project was to start my website. So far, I was writing for other platforms. Now I wanted to have the satisfaction of writing for myself and being my own boss. That’s how MothersGurukul was born with just two categories -Parenting and Recipes which has now expanded to nine categories.

 

I had a silly dream that my name should come in the Google search. 🙂 I was enjoying writing a lot but still wasn’t sure if I wanted to consider it seriously or not. It was when I got the acceptance from Times Of India as their NRI Contributor, I started to look at it differently. We all need a push and a turning point or should I say a milestone. I think TOI was that milestone for me. And I stepped into blogging and saw my dream of coming in Google search started to take its shape. Later, I published my first book – A Girl In the new Town  and became a published author. That was another fun-filled experienced that you can read in this post. 

 

Well, the desire to reach more people didn’t stop there. After my son’s birth, I was struggling to find time for additional reading. Podcasts came for my rescue. I subscribed to a few. “There must be many other moms just like me who want to educate themselves but not able to find the time” – this thought gave birth to my second dream. Starting my Podcast channel. And MothersGurukulPodacast came into the picture. Now it is hard to decide which one I like more.

 

One other exciting project was waiting for me overseas. Marathi being my Mother Tongue, I connect to this language at a very different level. I got a wonderful opportunity to collaborate with FTII (Film Institute Radio, Pune) and created a parenting series in Marathi.

 

Now let’s come to 2020. Part 2 of Dream 2 was having a podcast channel in Hindi. And there you have it. I finally launched my Hindi Podcast “Baton Baton Mein” last week.

 

This last decade was a wonderful one in many ways. It gave me many moments of pride, a few to reconsider my options, bring the best out of me as a writer (I still haven’t reached the level yet), made me a better planner. How was your decade?

 

This post is a part of ‘DECADE Blog Hop’ #DecadeHop organized by #RRxMM Rashi Roy and Manas Mukul. The event is sponsored by Glo and co-sponsored by Beyond The Box, Wedding Clap, The Colaba Store and Sanity Daily in association with authors Piyusha Vir and Richa S Mukherjee”