Half Century!

We have hit the half-century mark – 50 days of uninterrupted blogging, barring of course, the initial two-three posts when we’ve had to move in fits and starts to test the waters. From July 6, we have been fully on-stream, reporting every morning on the activities of the Club, six days a week, come rain or sunshine.
In the process, we have learnt a lot from (and about) one another, captured individual quirks and kinks, highlighted everybody’s goodness and innate merits, and tried not to hurt or judge anybody. We have recorded our moments of happiness and sorrow – be it a birthday, a bereavement or an illness. We have reported on the many visitations, from crow to cat and monkey to grasshopper. We have also held a mirror to ourselves in the hope that we become better individuals tomorrow!
On one count though, we have failed. We have not been able to reach out to our members the way we’d have liked to, largely because most of them do not have direct access to the Net. They tend to depend on younger family members – a son/daughter or daughter-in-law (or grandchild) depending on who is free – just to switch on the computer. Interaction on this site has therefore been minimal. True, these are early days to expect too much, but still we can try.
For one, let us have an ‘Announcement’ section on the page (instead of the stupid Slideshow appearing alongside) carrying information on say, a puja or birth in someone’s house or a member’s child/grandchild scoring top marks in an examination… anything which we’d want others to know? For another, we could run classifieds (free-of-charge for our members) of businesses and services in the side-panels on a regular basis.
On Sundays, we could perhaps invite someone’s kid to post an essay or short story… Even personal photographs of a vacation well-spent could be shared – the idea being to generate some interactivity and a sense of belongingness on this platform.
Think about it. And do send in your responses – by clicking Comments below. You could be having better ideas.
Renu Babani says:
The ideas do sound interesting. However, doesn't it come to the same thing for those who rely on others to have access on the Net? They still have to get onto the site. Maybe in due course, they too will be able to access the Net independently and check out the regular posts.
Another suggestion could be that someone prints the regular post on a daily basis, makes copies and distributes the next day among the members. That does sound like a hassle too actually, but something to consider.
I have a small riddle that I would like to share with everyone and let's see who replies instantly. A young gentleman used to visit a particular prisoner on a daily basis without fail. The jailor noticed this regular attendance and got rather curious. So he asked the gentleman very politely: "Sir, you visit this prisoner every single day. Could you please tell me how is he related to you?" The gentleman replied as follows: "His father is my father's son." So, figure out the relation between the prisoner and this gentleman and let me know. It is really simple!
--Renu