New Landmark

Another morning at BIG LAAF

We have reached a major milestone today. Little known to many, BIG LAAF has recorded 2,500 blog posts (in as many days of blogging) and notched an incredible number of ‘page views’, fast nearing the one million mark!
A bulk of this traffic has been flowing from India (naturally) and certain English-speaking countries like the USA, U.K., Australia, South Africa and so on. The odd part is that Russia accounts for the third largest traffic source (after India and the USA), far exceeding that of the next three – France, Germany and Ukraine combined. Even China, Croatia, Portugal, UAE and Bangladesh are presenting us with huge volumes in terms of page hits.
For a typically localized (read niche) blog on a bunch of senior citizens going about their fitness regime in a Mumbai suburb, this is no ordinary distinction. We thank the vast numbers of our readers across the globe for their abiding interest (if not curiosity) in our day-to-day activities over the years.
When we started this blog back in 2010, the idea was simply to record what we do during the one hour we meet every morning in the Garden. By extension it was to provide a window

Zarina Khan revisits childhood in Kaziranga

for friends and relatives of our members to have a look-see at our activities and in effect, serve as a means of bonding within the families.
Over time, with increasing popularity, the blog name, BIG LAAF became the official name of the club – w.e.f. November 15, 2014. (Till then it was known simply as 'Lokhandwala Laughing Club’.)

Out on the elephant safari

Still, we had not expected so many people, completely unrelated to us and living in remote corners of the globe, to take such a keen interest in the activities of our club through this blog. Thank you all, once again.
And now for an update on the group touring the North East. Here’s the latest SPOT REPORT:
“The excitement of going on an elephant safari early morning and catching sight of the fabled one-horn rhino, tigers and some rare wildlife in the Kaziranga Game Sanctuary gave us all a sleepless night. The wake-up time was 4:00 a.m. and we were to leave the forest lodge at 4:30 a.m. But we were at the breakfast table for tea, well before the appointed time.
“Unfortunately, it was very foggy at that hour of dawn and all we could see initially were a herd of deer and some wild buffaloes. There was no tiger. And then, we saw the one-horned rhino -- not one, but four majestic creatures emerging through the morning haze. But more than those sightings, it was the experience of moving about sitting on an elephant that made our day. Those who were apprehensive that the elephants would be unable to bear their weight were pleasantly surprised. Each of those elephants on the safari could easily carry four well-fed people on its back!” –Kiran Prakash
Lt Col Angad Singh (retd):
* It is admirable that we have become popular all over the globe. This gives immense pleasure to all members and at the same time, a big credit to the writer of this blog who has been projecting our activities in a lucid and readable form. Hats off to Blog Monster. Well done and keep it up.
* Our colleagues who are touring North East are enjoying all types of system of transportation available -- from the dawn of civilisation to modern era transport i.e. animals to aircraft!!! Keep enjoying.
Karun Sharma:
Congratulations, dear Blog Monster. You are the best. Your language is clearly understood with the depth of its words and definitions. We are proud of this achievement!