My first blog Award - better late than never!

I am a bad, bad person. Really bad. Because ages and ages ago (in March last year, to be a little more precise), a pretty (and?) sweet fellow blogger Priya Nain nominated me for the Liebster Award on her blog here. Thank you so much, Priya, for the honour. It was a great feeling to know you'd been following my blog and considered me worthy for the nomination.

And my sincerest apologies too, because I, having been busy with exam after exam ever since that same time, never got the time to acknowledge the award and carry it forward like one is supposed to do when one gets it. I'm probably going to hell for that. But anyhow, to make amends to my sweet nominator Priya and to carry the award forward (no matter how late), I'm going to answer the questions posed by her to me and to nominate a few of my own blogger friends too for the Liebster Award.

The rules, I have reason to believe, keep changing over the course of time as the award passes from one blogger to another across the globe. The rules as I received them are:

1. Write 10 random facts about yourself.
2. Answer the questions posed by nominating blogger.
3. Nominate 11 bloggers with less than 200 followers
4. Write 11 questions for them to answer.

So, I'll get on with it.

10 Random Facts about me:

1. I am a very particular person. I like language to be used in its purest form, I like to see people conform to some basic tenets of etiquette, I like to perform tasks as efficiently as they can be done, I can't see resources/time being wasted, I like to reach places on time and so on. I'm a giant pain in the derriere for almost everyone who knows me. 

2. I don't swear and don't take kindly to people who swear in my presence. Just can't take it.

3. I eat only about 25 things out of the entire range of food items and delicacies that are out there in the world. I just have very specific taste buds, that's all. No fancy reason.

4. I have a tiny appetite. My friends are horrified when they get to know how little I eat on a daily basis. And I have absolutely no patience and respect for the people who assume, just by my size, that I must be a big eater. Going by that logic, I should also assume that the people who are stick thin don't get enough food to eat, isn't it? Some mother of logic, that.

5. I am a psycho freak. I can read your mind, I can complete your sentences and I can make you feel like we're soulmates just by being normal everyday me.

6. I am by turns an obsessive, restless person who cannot sit idle for the love of God, and a lazy-ass sleepyhead who has no idea what she should do so she sleeps, eats, wonders at the complexities of life and watches useless movies. I cannot be anything between the two. 

7. I'm not normal. I just learned this a couple of days ago during a particularly insightful conversation with another not-normal person. They should have a support group for us. Really.

8. I have strong anti-social tendencies. I like to keep to myself mostly, I like to go for walks alone, I'd rather keep to one or two good friends at a time and I look down while walking so I don't have to acknowledge the presence of passing acquaintances.

9. I can't make small talk. And I can't stand it either. You either have something to talk about or you stay silent (and keep the bloody phone down, if it is the phrase 'aur bata' you have to resort to every 30 seconds during a phone conversation.)

10. I love writing and reading and everything that's related. It is what comes naturally to me. Whether I'm ill or sleepy or bored or super busy, if there is one thing I can always do and want to do, it is this. This isn't a fact unknown to anyone, but a list of facts about me is just incomplete without this one facet of my life. Now this list is officially complete.

Now for the questions posed to me:

Q1. Which is your favourite movie and why?

Ans. I don't have a single favourite movie, but I can pick a few for mention's sake. Here's the 3 movies I love the most, and why.

Q2. A career option you would never opt for and why.

Ans. Anything that wouldn't allow me to be myself, to follow my heart, to practise my hobbies and in general anything that would stifle me in any way. A corporate job for instance - long hours, cut-throat competition, greed for money etc. Not my cup of tea. I would only ever fit into a job that gives me immense freedom and personal satisfaction. 

Q3. Is it better to be born rich than to be talented?

Ans. To each his own. Some people just want money, no matter how, and some want to earn it through their work or talents. I'd fall into the second category.

Q4. A book you wish had never ended.
Ans. A Suitable Boy, by Vikram Seth.

Q5. What upsets you the most?
Ans. A lot of things actually. But mostly, the feeling or realization of loneliness.

Q6. What is your greatest phobia?
Ans. To end up unhappy in the long run in life.

Q7. What is the craziest thing you would ever want to try?
Ans. I would rather not reveal my crazy fetishes and thoughts here. Too scandalous for public revelation. :P

Q8. Whats your idea of a perfect weekend?
Ans. It changes with the mood and time. However a sketchy outline I can manage. An active start to the day with a jog and some exercise, maybe some adventure as well. Afternoon coffee alone, with a nice view to look at. Evening spent reading some good book or writing. End with an elaborate but light meal with an interesting person to converse with, or family.

Q9. Why did you start blogging?
Ans. I started this blog in my second semester of Engineering, one night at 2 am, because I was sad/bored/with nothing interesting to do/in awe of a friend who was already a blogger at that time. Basically, like every other thing you do at 2 am in the night, I did it just for the heck of it.

Q10. What is that one line or word that comes to your mind when I say the following:
Rain - Beauty, pleasure and a sense of joy in my heart.
Pizza - Either wood-fired, thin-crust, authentic Italian with olives/mushrooms on top, or bleh.
Books - Lifelong love affair.
Hate - A strong emotion, never use it for anything or anyone, or it''ll come back to you in some or the other form.

Q11. And finally-Vampire Diaries or Prison Break(this question is for TV series freaks like me).
Ans. I haven't watched the second, so can't really say if I'd like it or not. But I most certainly disliked Vampire Diaries the only time I watched it, so Prison Break it would be.

Now for my own list of nominated bloggers:

I don't think I even know 11 bloggers personally, so I'm going to take the liberty to nominate fewer bloggers but only those whom I'd like to see answering my questions and probably wake up from the deep slumber they or their blogs have been in. Let's see how many carry it forward and when (don't get inspired from me, I am a bad influence). Here's the list:

1. Sushmita at My World

2. Amul at Artistic Manifestation Under Legislation

3. Sushmit at Blogwati (Yes, you.)

4. Abhishek at Furobiker

5. Ghata at My World

And now, the 11 Questions I wish to pose to the bloggers I have nominated:

I'd like to pose the same questions to each one of my nominated friends as were posed to me from my nominator. Why? For two reasons.

1. I'm currently in my lazy phase, so I don't wish to exert my brain to come up with creative new questions right at this moment.

2. The questions are pretty much all-encompassing and I'd really like to read my friends' answers to them.

Look forward to your answers!