Final Liebster of 2015

Another Liebster Award Nomination 🙂

I was nominated for the Liebster Awards by Felicia Nazareth.
Thank you for the nomination, Felicia 🙂

What are these Liebster awards?

Liebster Award is a new-comer award given by bloggers to bloggers, that creates a great platform for new blogs to be discovered and build communications. The best thing about this award is, it creates a lot of encouragement and support within our blogging community.

What are the Liebster Award Rules?

By accepting this award I am committing to the following:

1. Thank and Tag the person nominated you.
2. Answer 11 questions asked by your nominator.
3. Nominate 11 bloggers.
4. Create 11 questions for your 11 chosen bloggers.
5. Notify them so through social media.

Here were the questions asked to me and my answers to them:

1) What is the hardest thing you have ever had to do?
To keep trying when there seems to be no hope.
2) What do you love about weddings?
I don’t really like weddings and other functions.
3) If money is deposited into your account for adventure purposes only, where would you go?
That would be somewhere in Latin America.
4) Your favorite song, movie and TV show?
There are too many of them to name one right now.
5) What does your blog name mean to you?
It means all the tea which I can ever drink!
6) What is your motivational tagline or favorite quote?
For now, I will take “To strive, to seek, to find, and not to yield”.
7) What is your biggest problem/challenge when it comes to blogging?
To keep writing and have no appreciation from your relatives.
8) What is your favorite post that you’ve written? Link Please..
The Vision of a Lost Bat.
9) Chocolates Or Ice Cream? Choose One. Why?
Ice Cream, because it is cold.
10) If given a chance how would you change your past?
Too many things there; nobody knows what will bring the best!
11) Any advice / message for bloggers or me?
Just keep writing because blogging world needs you 😀

Do leave your post links in the comments so that I can read the answers.

My Questions For The People I Nominate:

1) Vampires or Zombies – who will you choose for company?

2) Which is the date on which you started blogging?

3) Which kind of posts do you prefer?

4) How has blogging changed your lives?

5) When do you usually wake up in the morning?

6) Dragons or Dinosaurs – whom do you prefer?

7) Which is your dream mobile phone?

8) Which is your favourite review at Movies of the Soul?

9) Where do you want to travel next?

10) Do you love a city so much to shift there? Which one?

11) Rain or Snow – which one inspires you more?

And my dear nominees are:-

Namrata
Nimitha
Hargun
Sachin
Clementia
Sanjay
Maitreni
Vinitha
Bindu
Roohi
Kiran

Keep writing 🙂

TeNy

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Big Posts of 2015

Hitman vs. Transporter [Movies]
These are the seven most visited posts of the year 2015, and it comes as a flashback to what all happened at The Tea Cerebration(s) last year. The most visited post of the year was about Hitman: Agent 47 going face to face against The Transporter: Refueled here, as the date of release for the two movies were the same in India. The movies still only have 5.8/10 at IMDb and 8% at Rotten Tomatoes here in the case of the first movie, while the latter has 5.0/10 at IMDb and 17% at Rotten Tomatoes – but they were fine action flicks and worth the comparison; the post surely made it to the top of the list for the year!

Premam vs. Moideen [Movies]
The second most read post of the year is not that much far behind and is still getting a lot of visitors. With the potential to become the new topper for the year, this comparison has been something which the fans have been doing a lot. Premam and Ennu Ninte Moideen are the two top grossers of the year in Malayalam Cinema, and the fans of the latter flick are consistently trying to degrade the former movie. So, this post had become something essential, and there were many people searching with the same line as the title; some of them asked which one is better, and the rest asked which one is worse!

A Return to Tennis [Sports]
This is the tennis related post which I came up with after a long time, and it becomes one of those rare later sports posts. It was more of a random post about the tennis world, but it had a lot of visits, and the search engine was also very kind to this one. This post chases the write-up which is just above it with the steady number of visits. I wasn’t planning to come up with anything big related to this post, but things ended up really well here. So, with Novak Djokovic being the undisputed winner of the year, 2016 might not be that different in writing as far as the tennis posts are concerned.

Why Watch Rani Padmini? [Movies]
Another post about one of the most interesting and inspirational movies had to be written along with the review posted at Movies of the Soul – Rani Padmini is a movie which creates that kind of an impact. No matter what happens at the box-office, we just can’t avoid such movies. With movies like Mili, Su Su Sudhi Vathmeekam, My God and Jo and the Boy to go with it this year, this movie was also required to go bring only the right reasons, as inspiration was going to gain more strength. The movie review is also the third most visited post at Movies of the Soul after Kunjiramayanam and Anarkali, and this post also makes it to the top list.

The Storm Unleashed [Fiction]
This was one of the posts written as the BlogAdda WOW post, a fictional story which did win the badge for the same. The story of the fictional character coming alive was always a part of the dreams, and this one had me thinking about one of my favouite X-Men; it could have been Nightcrawler, Rogue or Mystique, but it was Storm in the end. This is one of my favourite WOW posts, and it did make it for a place among the most visited posts in a short time. There are a number of other fictional stories which made it to the WOW badge, and I have enjoyed writing each one of them.

The Vision of a Lost Bat [Fiction]
I consider this the most valuable post on this blog, thanks to the selection for the India Today Conclave at Taj Palace, Delhi. This one came as the game changer and has got a lot of visits from BlogAdda’s contest winning page. This was also the biggest surprise of the year, as I had mentioned in earlier posts – it also inspired more posts related to it, concerning the big program as well as the journey. It talks about the Vampire Bat’s journey to another planet where he found a new civilized way of life, as Dracula also gets there in the end, with teleportation working in full strength.

On Responsible Tourism [Journeys]
This is a post which is a lot visited which has come up to the top list in the recent days. This one was actually very quick to climb to the most visited posts list, and I was also invited for the Outlook Traveler Tourism Summit, but couldn’t make it to Delhi this time as I would have had to start packing at that moment when I heard that I was selected. I am not that quick, as you might already know. I think, and then I think more; so it was always going to take more time with booking the flights and arranging the accomodation. But I am happy that this post about responsible tourism was noticed!

***The images used in this blog post are from the Official Facebook Pages of the movies, Premam and Rani Padmini. Meanwhile, have you checked for the movie releases during the first quarter of 2016?

TeNy

373 posts in 365 days

At one point of time, I wondered why I should blog. I have had many doubts about how effective this would be for me considering the fact that there is a large number of people blogging. I rarely had any Indian readers at the earlier times, and most of my visitors were from the United States, Canada, the United Kingdom and Australia. If you look at my blogs as of now, the situation has changed and on this blog as well as on Movies of the Soul, the most visiting people are from India itself and same is the case of the comments – not that many comments from the people currently living in my home state of Kerala though.

So a wonderful run and a great cycle  for this particular blog ends on this day with this blog post. There was a set of events which were set in motion on December tenth, last year. I had decided to start the cycle just a little bit earlier, but something happened and so it was delayed to December tenth, 2014. I am not feeling that well today, but this cycle post had to come on this day. There is something special on this day because I started blogging continuously since last December tenth, and there has been never even one day without a post on this blog for these last 365 days.

I have posted a total of 373 posts in these 365 days on this blog and there were 84 posts on Movies of the Soul, with 12 posts on The Divine Epic. Except for one, the rest of the sixteen contests prizes were all won during this period of time, and most of the campaigns also came during this time. The nominations for all Blog Awards happened during this season too with a total of 17. 183 out of 195 Top Posts on IndiBlogger came during this time, and all 31 of the BlogAdda WOW Posts came during these 365 days. It is also the season with the most visits for not only thing blog, but also for Movies of the Soul and The Divine Epic.

The most comments on these three blogs also happened during these days, and the same is the case of most likes as well as the social media sharing. This blog made sure that I thought about coming up with new ideas. The same is the reason why I am so determined to finish this cycle despite not feeling well with fever. I have posted on this blog from not just here; I have posted from Delhi, Trivandrum, Trichur, Kollam or whichever city where I was staying at that time. At least one post was a necessary thing, and sometimes I kept extra posts ready in case there is the need.

I wrote many exams in between, but still managed to come with a new post every day – I found it more as a need. It never mattered if I was not that well, and the absence of electricity was no trouble either. I sometimes went to some other place to post a new one and at other times I came up with something in the very last moment. I have participated in almost all contests which I cam across, and the missed ones usually about coming up with a video or writing about married life or babies. Still, I came up with two posts related to babies, and that worked for some happy hours.

I have come up with almost all topics possible for me – yes, fashion and related things are impossible for me. I have posted about movies, fiction, sports, games, television series, history and all which have came into my mind at times. I liked some of the posts and I didn’t care that much about the others, but I still wrote something in every case. I felt that if I stopped on a day, I might just stop writing at all. Continuous writing was necessary, because I wanted to keep going at something or the other.

This is a milestone day for me, and maybe I can choose to slow down things a bit as of now. I don’t really want to slow down as of now, and I wish to continue to keep writing until I have a job. I wish that the ideas keep coming easily and there will also be more contests on which I can write on. It doesn’t really matter if I win or not, but what bothers me is not to try – I am still to win something huge, even though the post The Vision of a Lost Bat for the India Today Conclave is quite the win which I love more than anything else. I will hope to keep writing, and if someone don’t accept my resume in this birth, you will see a lot my writing till death 😀

***The images used in this blog post are from the Official Facebook Page of the movie, Hotel Transylvania.

TeNy

Liebster and the Facts

I once again got a Liebster Award nomination, this time from Sunaina. I have always loved reading her blog, and it feels great to receive another one. Thank you Sunaina 🙂 Here is her post.

THE RULES

1. Thank the nominator
2. Display the award
3. Nominate 10 more bloggers with 10 new questions
4. Answer the questions provided by the nominator
5. Notify the nominees

Now for the questions I have to answer:

Which of your blog posts is closest to your heart?

The College Days at UCC is the post which is right out of the heart and closest to it; not because it won a prize, but because I didn’t have to think about it – this one came instantly.

Who is your biggest critic?

That should be myself. I often have the kind of opinion about myself which I feel beyond my understanding – so much criticism.

What is happiness?

I am still searching for it. When I find it, I might be able to write a very long blog post about it.

Which is the most inspiring thing you have read recently?

I don’t really get that inspired. Many things are inspiring for common people, but when I give it a thought, nothing gets through me to provide inspiration.

Who is your favorite author/poet/writer?

That is a difficult question because I have loved works from different writers. But I would still prefer to answer my namesake, Lord Alfred Tennyson.

When it comes to appreciation, would you prefer a vote for your blog post or a comment?

I would prefer the comment if it is positive or interesting; otherwise I am ready to take the vote; well, you can vote anyway because it is so easy 😀

Walk at the beach or trip to the mall or a luxury cruise – what is your favorite kind of holiday?

I am not that interested in the three. About the malls, I go there so many times, and I have never been to a luxury cruise. I like the beaches, but it is still not an ideal holiday for me.

What are your thoughts about my blog or my style of writing?

I have always been interested in reading your blog. I don’t have thoughts about blogs that much to pass a judgment. Everyone is different in style and each is just unique.

Is it easy to forgive or forget?

Both are not really easy, but the former can be easier considering the situation and what it is about.

Who is your best friend?

As of now, I am afraid that I can’t talk about one. The position inside the soul is rather empty.

 

I am happy to nominate the following bloggers for this award:
Simon – http://simonsayswatchthis.wordpress.com
Raja – http://www.rajareviews.com
Ranjini – http://rangelz.wordpress.com
Sagarika – http://uncivilizedsophistication.wordpress.com
Sherna – http://meowconnect.blogspot.com
Namrata – http://namratakumari.com
Simran – http://myfriendshipsimran.blogspot.in
Amreen – http://painttheworldwithwords.wordpress.com
Roohi – http://www.roohibhatnagar.com
Sachin – http://jrnywithprabhu.blogspot.in

The questions for them are:

1. Which is your favourite comedy movie?
2. Which of my posts do you consider most interesting?
3. What do you think about end of the world?
4. Which is your favourite spiritual place?
5. Who will you choose between a zombie and a ghost?
6. Which is your favourite movie quote?
7. Which is the superpower that you need?
8. What kind of books do you read?
9. If you have to sacrifice one of the two, will you choose to get rid of Facebook or Twitter?
10. A cat or a dog? With spot for only one pet, which will you choose?

TeNy

The Liebster Returns

Thanks to Hema, for nominating me for the Liebster award 🙂

(http://jumbledhead.blogspot.in/2015/11/liebster-award-nomination-2015.html)

A long time had passed since my last blog award nomination, and longer time had passed since the last Liebster!

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  Rules related to LIEBSTER Award:

  1. As a token of acceptance of the award, do write a blog post regarding the award and post the link of the blogger who nominated you.
  2. Display the award on your blog.
  3. Answer the questions raised by the blogger who nominated you.
  4. Nominate other bloggers.
  5. Post questions to those bloggers.

Here are the answers to Hema’s  questions.

+Who/what inspires you in writing?
It is more of the need to do anything at a time when there is nothing to do.

+What’s the most difficult about blogging for you?
The feeling that this is going to be considered as a wastage of time by people.

+How are you managing time for your work life balance?
There is no work and there is no life for me. So it is very easy.

+What is the single activity which you love the most?
That should be drinking tea, and a lot more tea.

+What is the most special character in you which you adore in yourself?
I don’t really adore anything about me; it is not my plan.

+Which place you like to travel frequently?
To Indian Coffee House, for that tea and what comes with it.

+What 3 words describes you the best?
Thoughtful, Meaningless, Hopeless.

+List any 3 of your favorite bloggers at the moment?
Namrata, Maniparna, Raja.

+What is your favorite quote?
What comes to my mind right now: From the movie King Arthur (2004): “There is no worse death than the end of hope”.

+What are the tips/suggestions for the upcoming blogger?
Just don’t go for the prizes and glory; do what you love.

I am happy to nominate the following bloggers for this award:
Purba – http://www.purbablog.com
Vinitha – http://www.potpourriofmylife.wordpress.com
Roma – http://www.trulyyoursroma.blogspot.in
Bindu – http://www.moviereviewsbybinduc.blogspot.in
Swati – http://dreamerswati.blogspot.in

Here are the questions to my nominees:

*Which is your favourite movie of the 1990s?
*Where do you really want to go before you die?
*What will you choose between a Pista and a Chocolate Shake?
*Do you feel that life has a purpose? Why?
*If given a choice, will you choose arts or science?
*Which is your favourite post on this blog?
*What do you feel is the best thing about blogging?
*What do you think about Simona the Kitty?

TeNy

Loyalty of Dragons

Among the awards which this blog has managed, the most interesting one should be this because it has dragon! – It is The Dragon’s Loyalty Award. Just a few days ago, Ruma nominated me for this one! Thank you Ruma 🙂

It is an award for the fellow bloggers who visit your blog regularly. Here are the rules:

• Accept the award with thanks.
• Give your readers 5 facts about you.
• Nominate other bloggers and let them know.

Five Facts About Me:

1. I sometimes feel that running far away from home and jumping off the top of a waterfall is the best way to get some direction in this life or afterlife.
2. I believe that people should respect each other all the time and the opinions should be expressed without taking things personally or abusing others.
3. I believe in keeping the promise; if someone can’t reach somewhere or can’t do something as promised earlier, I wish to be told and instead of trying to defend  and giving the idea that it can still happen when it can’t.
4. I am going through my second root canal, and this will provide me with two crowned teeth on the left side, with a possible problem coming up on the right side; I should be a dentist’s dream patient.
5. I don’t believe in changing my profile picture on Facebook and losing my identity and individuality just because others are doing it; I don’t believe in following the crowd, and I won’t do something just because everyone else is doing it.

My Nominations:

Archana (http://drishti.co)

Maniparna (http://maniparna5002.wordpress.com)

Anoop (http://anooppillaiz.wordpress.com)

Namrata (http://namratakumari.com)

Hargun (http://hargunwahi.wordpress.com)

Thank You! 🙂

TeNy

For the Blogger Friend

It has been just few days after I completed the 350th post on this blog, The Tea Cerebration(s) on the 444th day of its existence, making it the fastest and the only blog of mine to reach that many number of posts. It is the newest blog which is just a little more than one year in age. It is also my fastest blog to 50,000 posts and all of my daily readers have played a big role in bringing the blog to this status. Without them, the beginning would have been a struggle like my other blogs which had almost no visitors in the first few months.

Blogger friends mean a lot to me in a world where most of the friends and relatives find it so difficult to support a blog, and the elders of the family tree will always classify this activity as the great waste of time when they compare this to what their sons and daughters are doing, earning a lot of money and getting married to people from rich families. So, I am taking this opportunity and writing this blog for one of such bloggers who has been a good friend and an amazing writer. There are a lot of them whom I have mentioned earlier, but here, I am writing for one particular blogger and supporting her in a contest.

Blogging has been the sea! It has remained strong and inspiring!

Even though I started blogging with the other blogs earlier, I have had the most number of blogger friends in the last one year, which is a lot more than I ever expected, as in the beginning, the whole thing was supposed to be anonymous. I had joined many blogger communities which meant that there was significant increase in the number of Indian bloggers on my blog. Movies of the Soul had the Vampire Bat with mostly Hollywood movie reviews, and I had almost finished with writing Travel Diaries; then The Divine Epic just had one post a month and wasn’t looking forward to be a big space for writing.

But as time changed and I met a lot of good and supporting bloggers, I decided not to remain anonymous because there was nothing special about it other than being the stranger. We need our friends who are in the blogging world, and they are our inspiration. Without the other writers and readers, there is not much about posting online. They are the motivation that we need on the internet where there is too much evil. I will always be indebted to them for making the blogging experience better with the support.

It was a few months ago that I came across another blogger, Amreen who has left an impression on me with her blog, Paint the World With Words. She recently started the 100 Deeds of Change Drive which you might want to have a look at, as it intends to bring small changes in everyone’s life through sharing such work by blogging on the same at her blog. With a hundred posts about hundred deeds by different bloggers are reached, the entire series is supposed to be published as an e-book.

I have recently come to know that she has participated in a Short Literary Work Contest in TATA Literature LIVE! and has been looking for Facebook votes to win the contest. It involves logging into Facebook and going to the link which is given at the end of this blog. There you can see her entry named “amreens44” and there is a text box to enter your e-mail ID and a green button to cast your vote which you can use to support Amreen. It works very well on Google Chrome, and sharing it is also easy!

We all use Facebook a lot and support a lot of things with likes, shares and comments. It has been part of our lives for a very long time. So, this is the time for some Facebook votes from the bloggers in support of something smart and creative. Her poem speaks about the topic of Child Marriage and if she wins, she will be given this opportunity, to share this message with the world and the society! Login to Facebook and follow this link, to cast your vote for her! Your one small gesture can bring a big change in someone’s world!
https://www.facebook.com/litlive?sk=app_248604521965078&app_data=entry_id%3D59426147

***The image used in this blog post was taken by me on my Samsung Galaxy A5 at Fort Cochin earlier this month.

TeNy

Of Blogging: My Choices

I am writing this post in favour of my friends whose blogs have been nominated for #WIN15. I have already written about most of them on this blog, but I would like to do more. The voting is possible till the thirteenth of September, and all the people whom I am talking about here are the bloggers whom I know personally, and are writing some very high quality content. I know that some of you might wonder if this is needed, but I feel so much of the need to do the same. The Vampire Team has had a long discussion about the same before coming up with the list.

Category: Personal :: Scattered Thoughts – If you ask me which is the blog that I have read the most number of times, it would be this beautiful thought-provoking space from Maniparna, which I might immediately nominate for a lot of awards, not just belonging to one category. She has been coming up with amazing posts, and providing great support to the other bloggers. The Vampire Bat and the Vampire Owl highly recommend this one, and Uncle Dracula is looking forward to your vote 😀
Vote for Maniparna here

Category: Arts Crafts & Design :: Crimson April – This one came easy for me as Tara has been one of the earliest Malayali bloggers whom I have ever known, and I have read more creativity on her blog related to arts and crafts than anywhere else in my life-time. For quite a long time, Crimson April has been my source of seeing and reading about beautiful art. There has been something special out there all the time, and even related to a few posts which were less related to my interests and knowledge, I have found myself very much interested in reading them due to her wonderful way of presenting them.
Vote for Tara here

Catgegory: Entertainment :: Movie Reviews by Bindu Cherungath – Movies of the Soul loves the movie reviews from the fellow movie enthusiast and friend, Bindu, and really hope that she wins this category. She does an amazing job with her reviews, and I hope and believe that a lot of you have already read and appreciated her reviews; if you haven’t, please do soon. Her blog is often the first place I look for reviews without doing Google Search, and they are special.
Vote for Bindu here

Category: Creative Writing :: Petrichor and Clouds – I have been very less into reading Blogspot blogs, but Sreesha has provided some of the most interesting poems and fiction which makes it near impossible not to be at the non-Wordpress platform. Her blog has now shifted to WordPress, and that is a very interesting news for me. I have provided the link to the Blogspot blog to avoid confusion, and you can go to her other blog about book reviews and the new WordPress place from there itself. There is your place to read some great creative writing.
Vote for Sreesha here

Category: Parenting :: Momscribe – This blog from Uma will be my choice in the next big category. She has a very detailed blog out there. Meanwhile, I am skipping the category Beauty & Skin because that has never been, and might never be my department; I don’t read much from those blogs mentioned there either. The same is the case of Fashion & Lifestyle. I also leave Political, Health & Fitness, Food & Drinks, Hindi and Humor & Satire, leaving you to make some recommendations for me.
Vote for Uma here

Category: Photo & Video :: i Share – I vote for Indrani in this category, and if you have seen her Faces of India series and the beautiful photos from Spain, I am sure that you will do the same too.
Vote for Indrani here

Category: Technology & Internet :: Mono-live – I vote for Raj here, as this one is of another level with the details – this has been my best source of such information.
Vote for Raj here

Category: Travel & Living :: From My Window Seat – I vote for Ragini whose interesting travel posts have been inspiring me for quite some time!
Vote for Ragini here

***The image used in this blog post is from the #WIN15 page of BlogAdda.

I didn’t nominate Movies of the Soul for the awards. I am still trying to figure out why. May be I got a very low opinion about myself; may be I had no confidence at all.

TeNy