The Liebster Award for Blogging

I woke up to a sweet little surprise yesterday. Smriti from Mumbai Mornings nominated me for the Liebster Award. This award, which is circulated on the Internet among the blogging community, is a lovely way for bloggers and readers to get to know each other a little better. I remember reading about this award when I had finally decided to be more of an active blogger last year. I also remember thinking to myself about the rare possibility of some generous and motivating blogger stopping by my blog to nominate me. At the time, I was, perhaps, only three blog posts down, and winning this award seemed unimaginable.

And then, in an instant, I almost forgot about this award. Until today, that is. I’m so excited to have received it (Thanks Smriti!) because it’s very encouraging to know that you have readers out there who enjoy reading your work. So just in case you aren’t in the know, the Liebster award is given to bloggers who have less than 200 followers. I think it’s a great initiative to help expand your blog network, to discover new bloggers and to reach out to new readers. Who doesn’t love awards, really! Besides, Liebster means sweetest, kindest, lovely, cute, endearing and valued, among other pleasant things in German.

But there are some rules and they are not too difficult to follow. Here they are:

1. You have to link back to the person that nominated you.
2. You must answer all 11 questions given to you by the person who nominated you.
3. After completing these questions you must nominate 11 bloggers with under 200 followers and give them 11 questions of your choice.
4. You must not nominate the person who nominated you.
5. You must let your nominees know that they have been nominated and provide a link for them to your post so that they can learn about it.

Now, here are my answers to the questions sent in by Smriti from Mumbai Mornings who had nominated me:

 1. Tea or Coffee?

I love coffee! More than the caffein-induced high, I love coffee for its taste and aroma. I can’t wait to travel to the South of India and other places across the world, like Brazil, to try out all sorts of coffee.

 2. Beaches or Mountains?

Well, I love both. But since I’ve to pick one–I’ll go with the mountains. Besides the fresh air and lush greenery, I love exploring mountainous regions because they open up a new world to me. Coming from Mumbai, I am amazed at the simplicity and ease with which the mountain folk go about their daily lives, in spite of living so many feet above ground level.

 3. Backpacker hostels or Luxury hotels? (assuming you have the money)

It depends, really. I enjoy luxury hotels mostly when I travel with my family and when I’m on work since I review hotels very often. But I’d generally opt for backpacker hostels simply because I get to meet so many new people from various cultures, exchange tons of stories, and save a good amount of money for other indulgences during my travels!

 4. What is your favourite food?

I love Thai food — green and red curries, cashewnut chicken, basil prawns and papaya salad. I would eat these dishes everyday if I could! I love it so much that I even learnt how to cook it.

5. Which city would you love to live in?

Out of the places I’ve visited so far, I’ve realised that Barcelona is just my kind of city. I love that the city is a living, breathing work of art in itself. There’s much to explore here and the people are friendly too. Oh, and the tapas and paella, the street musicians busking their evenings away, the street art, and the glorious works of the artist Gaudi.

6. Who inspires you?

I am deeply inspired by my father. He is so driven to do what he loves. You won’t find him lazing around at home even on his weekly holiday. And I love that he keep innovating.

7. If a day had 25 hours, what would you do in the additional hour?

I would read. For some odd reason, I haven’t been finding the time to just curl up in my favourite corner and immerse myself in a book.

 8. What would the name of the movie based on your life be?

Further

9. What is the one thing you itch to do in life?

To travel more, put in my creative best when I write, paint and cook, do more more gardening, and spend more time with my friends and family. Basically, I want to do ‘more’ of everything that I love and everything that’s good for me.

10. What is holding you back?

I’m not very good at time management. But I’m working on it!

11. What is the one piece of advice you would want to give all your readers?

Whatever it is that makes you happy, do it. Even if it means taking risks. You never know what’s in store for you.

And, here’s my list of 11 bloggers who I nominate for the Liebster Award:

1. Pink Lace Pearls

2. Mens Fashion and Lifestyle Diary

3. Apple Strudels And Blues

4. The Reluctant Writer Writes

5. The Girl With Wings

6. The Diary of Curly Locks

7. Yearful Of Sundays

8. K Street Journal 

9. The Civilized Nomad

10. Astha Gupta

11. Mumbai Eyed

Here are my questions to each of you bloggers:

1. Which three people, living or not, would you love to invite for dinner?

2. What’s your favourite way to unwind?

3. Complete this sentence – The world would be a better place if ……….

4. A blogger whose work you love?

5. A destination that’s your favourite?

6. If you could, which city/town/village would you love to live in?

7. A band/musician you love?

8. Your dream job?

9. What motivates you to keep on blogging?

10. What are you currently reading?

11. What’s your favourite food/cuisine?

That was fun! Hope to hear from each one of you Leibster Award nominees as well as new readers.