Celebration time again. Ghumakkad's blog, your blog, is thirteen! Ghumakkad too is thirteen but with sixty years of wandering around!
Ghumakkad expresses his gratitude to each one of you for this exciting journey together. Like all life on earth, we the human beings are also dependent upon Nature. Ghumakkad too loves Nature. And that is why my tagline on Insta says 'Forever at Peace Outdoors'. Nature is amazing as well as mysterious. A lifetime is not enough to fathom Nature's mysteries like the picture below. The khoj खोज meaning 'the quest' continues.
With the support of our readers worldwide, we have crossed the milestone of half-a-million page views this year. In fact the count now reads 603,000 page views! Eight years ago when we crossed the 100,000 mark, Radhika Sareen one of our regular readers had commented 'You will soon cross a Million mark!' It did not seem attainable becuse it had taken us five years to reach 100,000. A ten-fold growth meant another 50 years. Not in my life time I thought! But now it seems we are getting there! It is the magic created and continued by the readers!
As we said earlier, numbers don't matter for our blog. Being a non-political, non-religious, non-commercial, non-celebrity blog it has limited readership. We are happy with the readers that we have. Your insights and encouragement keeps us going. In fact our readers have been contributing many guest stories to our blog, your blog.
When Fallen, Get Up and Go
This year Ghumakkad lost his travel companion (and life partner too). But Ghumakkad is trying to retain the spirit of the blog. The posts may have been fewer but the show has gone on. Sharing below the post dedicated to Neeta with eulogies from her near and dear ones.
Last year we had shared a snapshot of our content and its variety. We are re-posting it with suitable uodates. Read on.
The Journey
Ghumakkad started as a travel blog. Our inaugural story was a set of eight posts on picturesque Bhutan. Initially the blog was by invitation. Naturally it had very limited page views in the first three years. Once opened to public, more readers enjoyed browsing it. See the graph below which shows the current page views at 603,000 with more than 5600 comments. This is the 643rd Post of our blog.
- Travelogues like Huka Falls Taupo New Zealand, A Train journey in USA, Scuba diving at 65, Hiking up the Tiger's Nest in Bhutan, Toddler on a Hike, Veterans Bash In A Train
- Wildlife including The Big Five of Africa, Tigers of Tadoba, Birds of Ranganathittu, Rescuing a Black Winged Stilt, Lakshmi The Tigress Teacher, Ajgar Dadar Preserving the Pythons
- Environment including Trees (Cherry Blossom Nature's Revival, White Jamun?, Neem Trees Under Attack), plants (Friendship With Plants), insects and flowers (Brahma Kamal)
- Online Contest called Kaun Banega Ghumakkad which has completed 80 editions so far! It is though temporarily suspended.
- Lesser-known India series Tunnel Tourism, Belum Caves, Hindola Toran, Devarakonda Fort and more
- Entrepreneurship and social entrepreneurship stories like Dreams to Reality, Young Entrepreneurs Bootcamp, Startup Fever Grips VVISM
- Teaching and learning (Ghumakkad is a teacher!) Jeevan Vidya Workshop- A Journey Within, Yoga Mat With A Bandage, Implementing NEP-2020, real-life case studies and Innovations in A Convocation
- Obituaries of leaders like Ratan Tata, Dr Abdul Kalam and martyrs like Capt Ravi Shankar
- Motivational posts like This Time of the Year and more during Covid
- Guest stories including those written by our grandchildren (Coyote Gulch Hiking in Stream), Covid survivors (I Got A New Life) and Animal Lovers like Rohini
- Picturesque Quotes having one of our pictures with a famous quote like Claude Monet on Nature and another one by a KBG winner.
- Adventure and Endurance like Ankush Does It The Ironman, Women Hiking in Water
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The Readership
Wow Sir .. Hats off. What an inspiration you are
ReplyDelete13 is a lucky number for Ghummakkad. Please keep up the good work.
ReplyDeleteHappy 14th Anniversary! Fourteen years of sharing incredible stories, breathtaking photos, and inspiring travel experiences! Your dedication to documenting the world's beauty and your ability to connect with your audience through your blog is truly remarkable. You've not only created a valuable resource for travelers but have also helped countless people discover new perspectives and broaden their horizons. Thank you for making the world feel smaller and more accessible. Cheers to many more years of adventures and inspiring content! Sir I am your fan since we first met on INS Himgiri. Stay blessed and healthy , Sir . Regards
ReplyDeleteCongratulations to have become a teenager.
ReplyDeleteDear Harsh , Congratulations on getting Baker's Dozen years of Blogging. It is not yet over, bigger contents to come. Best wishes
ReplyDeleteWhat an amazing journey, Uncle! May the adventures and experiences keep you inspired and all of us enthralled!! Welcome to the teen years...let us have some drama now!😄🤪
ReplyDeleteAwesome and stupendous achievement
ReplyDeleteWow !!! 👌 🙏
ReplyDeleteWe can only thank you Harsh for the interesting episodes and your narration methods
ReplyDeleteWhat an amazing and inspiring journey thus far, Harsh! You've had the patience, endurance and persistence to
ReplyDeletecreate a blog that endears itself to readers who search for something deeper and more meaningful than what's on offer on the internet these days. Your blog is a journey through life and time and places, while revealing the wonders of Nature as you go along. Inspiring stories about great people touch and move us. Motivational quotes uplift us in our daily living. You share memories and emotions with us in words and pictures.
We celebrate with you Ghumakkad's
13th birthday and wish you many more eventful ones !
God bless your blog and all the lives you touch through it.
Thank you for your kind words. lts been a pleasure . 😊
Trixie
Dear sir, in this journey of life, as you cross another milestone, heartiest congratulations are in order. You have enabled me and the other followers of Ghumakkad to experience some of the most beautiful and unique places, achievements, and human lives. As one of your co-passengers from initial days, just wanted to say - thanks a lot. Look forward to many more voyages with Ghumakkad on the wheel.
ReplyDeleteHeartiest congratulation Harsh on entering teenage stage, wow!! Wishing you many more milestones to cross, keep going strong .
ReplyDeleteCongratulations 💐
ReplyDeleteMany thanks for sharing this wonderful analysis of so Nanyang parameters of your delightful travelogs, containing wealth of information about Nature as well as human beings.
ReplyDeleteIt was so much personal in the narrations that all of us readers felt very much part of the travel.
It will remain as a wonderful legacy of Neeta and you, since it is so very well documented.
Kudos to you both, and your wonderful family.
Anand and Veena Khandekar.
Congratulations on achieving such a milestone. All very inspiring stories.
ReplyDeleteKudos to you dear Cmde Harsh sir. I have been enjoying your posts regularly and benefitted with experiencing many places and things thanks to your well articulated write ups, photos and videos. Look forward to crossing of the millions mark. All the very best and warm regards - Kishor
ReplyDeleteCongradulations on your perseverance Prof Harsh. Amazing and very proud of you. Keep going. Best wishes
ReplyDeleteCdr Gopu
Heartiest congratulations to you Harsh.So beautifully taken me through your amazing journey.
ReplyDeleteTouching so so many making them experience what may not be possible and within reach
May your journey continue and blossom with your spirit and God,s blessings.
Harsh, 14 years of varied stories and environ really kept us glued to your amazing journey through different scenarios. Hats off buddy for being consistent all through this journey. God bless.
ReplyDeleteCongratulations and keep up the tempo.It has indeed been an amazing experience reading all the blogs and inspiring to many..Great going.Good luck and all good wishes.
ReplyDelete