Ghumakkad Turns Twelve!

Hurray 12th Birthday! Not mine, though I wish it was! Ghumakkad, your blog, completes 12 years.

Rooted in Nature, Ghumakkad would like to express our gratitude to you for continued readership and feedback. The picture below shot in Pichavaram Mangroves in Tamil Nadu last week, shows the mangroves up close. Like the roots of the mangroves, Ghumakkad's blog is rooted to each one of you who give us energy and encouragement. 

Last 12 months saw a phenomenal jump in the page views from 291,000 to 450,000! Wonder if we can expect similar growth this year! It is the magic created by the readers!

Last year we had shared a snapshot of our content and its variety. We are re-posting it to save our effort. We have added a list of posts most viewed in last 12 months. 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 450,000 with more than 4660 comments. This is the 612nd Post of our blog.

As we mentioned, last 12 months had more than 160,000 page views. See the graph below.

The Content

Our blog has a variety of content with pictures. Some of the themes are listed below with links to connected stories:

• Travelogues like A Train journey in USA, Scuba diving at 65, Hiking up the Tiger's Nest in Bhutan, Toddler on a Hike

• Wildlife including The Big Five of Africa, Tigers of Tadoba, Birds of Ranganathittu, Rescuing a Black Winged Stilt

• Environment including Trees (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!
• Lesser-known India series 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!) including real-life case studies and Innovations in A Convocation

• Obituaries of leaders like Dr Abdul Kalam and martyrs like Capt Ravi Shankar

• Motivational posts specially during Covid

• Guest stories including those written by the children (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 An Ironman in the Family, Women Hiking in Water

The Readership

Thanks to the wider reach of internet, our blog is read globally. Readers from India account for only 45%, balance coming from across the globe. See the colour coded world map below.

Most Viewed Posts (All time)

Capt Ravi Shankar's life story has been read more than 7690 times. We salute his supreme sacrifice

.

Another story on 'Brahma Kamal The Queen of Night' has been read by more than 6810 readers. It shows the readers' interest in environment and Nature related posts.

Most viewed posts during the last 12 months are shown below. Once again, our readers showed their preference for Nature-related posts.

Acknowledgements

There are numerous people who have helped us grow. We place on record our appreciation to the following for their unstinted support.

Trixie Asirvatham our content advisor

Chitra Shanker our advisor on plants, trees, insects and birds

Ramya Sriram logo designer of our KBG Contest

We also thank each one of you for your continued support without which Ghumakkad wouldn't have been here! Do give us your feedback to help us improve.

Onwards to the 13th Anniversary of Ghumakkad next year!

Thanks for browsing. Stay connected

   - Harsh-the-Ghumakkad with Neeta Bhargava/ 23rd May 2024/ Chennai

#GhumakkadHarsh #GhumakkadHB #12thAnniversary #BlogAnniversary #ThrillOfWriting #JourneyOfLife #BringingSmiles #makingadifference #kbgcontest #kaunbanegaghumakkad #wellness #motivation #inspiration #positivity #nature #environment #teachers #learning #india #mysteriesofnature #travelforfun #wildlife #keepgoing #blogger #pictures #photowalks #powerofobservation #students #adventure #lesserknownindia #PQs #picturesquequotes #learningtogether #mangroves

Trailing So What?

Markéta Vondroušová, the new Wimbledon Women's Champion seems to fit the title of our story.

With all odds against her, she went on to win the Final on the famous Centre Court on 15th July. And shocked her opponent Ons Jabeur from Tunisia. What were the odds against her:

• First unseeded player to reach Wimbledon Final after Billie Jean King in 1963.
• Pitted in the final against sixth seeded Ons Jabeur 
• Suffered a wrist injury which kept her off-court for seven months
• Down 0-2 in the first set

So how did Marketa overcome the odds? Those who saw the final earlier this evening, would have observed the following:

1. Keep your cool. She double faulted more than once. But bounced back. She kept her cool.
2. Fight back. Jabeur broke Marketa's serve many times. But instead of giving up, she crawled back. One shot at a time, one game at a time. Steadily. Talking about fighting back, even Jabeur mentioned that 'I will come back again to win this tournament'.
3. Play your game. Don't get unnerved by the opponent's stature or seeding. Play your game.
4. Emotional Strength does it. Keeping emotional balance is the hallmark of great players. We have seen it in Federer. We saw it in Marketa today.
5. Injured, so what? Her wrist injury did not deter her. She allowed it to heal for a season. Lost a year, so what? She came back. It shows her faith in her team.

It was an exciting match. Unpredictable to say the least. Ghumakkad enjoyed watching it. Pictures here are courtesy Star Sports and Tata Play.

Packed Centre Court

'Most painful loss of my career. But I will come back to win this', Ons Jabeur

1st Anniversary gift by Vondrousova to her husband.

The Venus Rosewater Dish- Wimbledon Women's Trophy since 1888.

On completion of the French Open Women's Final in June 23, we had brought you a story titled 'Acknowledging the Team Work'. Do browse it if you haven't.

After watching Wimbledon-22 Men's Final which Joko had won, we had shared a story titled 'Wimbledon-22 Beyond Tennis'. That story had also brought out some of the observations made tonight. Do browse if you haven't so far.

Some friends have remarked 'Do you watch the TV or the movies for fun or for writing a story?' Well, if I do observe a scene or event which brings out some life lessons, I like to share it with others. Hope such 'live' coverage does not bore you. If it does, do tell us.

I firmly believe in 'Learning Together' as depicted in my logo below.

Thanks for browsing.

    - Harsh-the-Ghumakkad with Neeta Bhargava/ Secunderabad/ 15th July 2023

#wimbledon #womensfinal2023 #marketavondrousova #onsjabeur #lifelessons #keepingcool #fighback #playyourgame #emotionalstrength #trailingsowhat #presson #ghumakkdharsh #ghumakkadhb

Ghumakkad Is Eleven!

Eleventh birthday! Not mine but of our blog, your blog! (www.ghumakkadhb.blogspot.com)

As Ghumakkad's blog completes 11 years, it is a moment of joy, thrill and excitement. Like the Baya Weavers in the picture below who go about building their nests from scratch. Patiently but steadily. Suspended up in the air but held firmly with a branch of the tree. Our blog is also somewhere up in the 'cloud' but bonded securely with you, the readers!

Thanks for being there to support Ghumakkad all these years.

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 291,000 with more than 3900 comments. This is the 582nd Post of our blog.

The Content

Our blog has a variety of content with pictures. Some of the themes are listed below with links to connected stories:

• Travelogues like A Train journey in USA, Scuba diving at 65, Hiking up the Tiger's Nest in Bhutan, Toddler on a Hike

• Wildlife including The Big Five of Africa, Tigers of Tadoba, Birds of Ranganathittu, Rescuing a Black Winged Stilt

• Environment including Trees (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!
• Lesser-known India series 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!) including real-life case studies and Innovations in A Convocation

• Obituaries of leaders like Dr Abdul Kalam and martyrs like Capt Ravi Shankar

• Motivational posts specially during Covid

• Guest stories including those written by the children (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 An Ironman in the Family, Women Hiking in Water

The Readership

Thanks to the wider reach of internet, our blog is read globally. Readers from India account for only 55%, balance coming from across the globe. See the colour coded world map below.

Most Viewed Posts

Capt Ravi Shankar's life story has been read more than 7000 times. We salute his supreme sacrifice.

Another story on 'Brahma Kamal The Queen of Night' has been read by more than 4000 readers. It shows the readers' interest in environment and Nature related posts.

Acknowledgements

There are numerous people who have helped us grow. We place on record our appreciation to the following for their unstinted support.

Trixie Asirvatham our content advisor

Chitra Shanker our advisor on plants, trees, insects and birds

Ramya Sriram logo designer of our KBG Contest

We also thank each one of you for your continued support without which Ghumakkad wouldn't have been here! Do give us your feedback to help us improve.

Onwards to the 12th Anniversary of Ghumakkad next year!

Thanks for browsing. Stay connected

   - Harsh-the-Ghumakkad with Neeta Bhargava/ 24th May 2023/ Secunderabad

Postscript:

26th May 2023. Commander GR Sreenivasan, a reader from Bangalore wrote: "Fabulous compilation of unique and interesting  information mostly related to nature and wild life, meticulously  compiled and recorded for the benefit of present and future generations when many things will either become extinct or degraded due to climate change. What a way to celebrate, worship and express gratitude to the creator of this universe." (We hope that mankind doesn't degrade the environment to that extent- Eds.)

#GhumakkadHarsh #GhumakkadHB #11thAnniversary #BlogAnniversary #HarshBhargava #ThrillOfWriting #JourneyOfLife #BringingSmiles #makingadifference #kbgcontest #kaunbanegaghumakkad #wellness #motivation #inspiration #positivity #nature #environment #teachers #learning #india #mysteriesofnature #travelforfun #beatthelockdown #wildlife #keepgoing #blogger #pictures #photowalks #powerofobservation #students #adventure #lesserknownindia #PQs #picturesquequotes #learningtogether #bayaweaver