Rain rain come again:)

It rained in Chennai whole of yesterday evening and slight showers during the night.I loved it and wish it continues today..:).

P.S-I hate the smell of wet clothes hung to dry inside our house though..!!

I wonder!!

A while back my dear blogger friend M posted about how her contents were plagiarized.Her post on Vishu sadya was flicked totally by another blogger.Despite asking that person to remove the contents,they remained there for a long time.I haven't checked it recently,so I don't know whether that content is removed.

A similar thing happened last week.M posted about how her posts or rather one particular post was plagiarized.I felt really bad for her and while commenting I saw an anonymous comment asking her how sure was she about the post and asking her whether her mom had plagiarized the recipe.First thing,I dislike anonymous commenters,hell,if you can't own up to what you say,keep quiet..shhh!!I reacted quite strongly to that comment as well as to the so called plagiarizer.

I was curious,so were a lot others to know who that person was.

While going through some more comments I saw the name of the recipe which supposedly was the one M was mentioning.I googled to see what the name brings up,got lots of links to several blogs-many of which I blog-hop and had trouble believing those people/bloggers would copy stuff without giving credit.But I left it at that.

Two days later,I got a comment on my post-which I didn't moderate and rejected promptly,giving me the exact link to the post with the bloggers name.As I said before,her's was one of the blogs I hopped on to and I couldn't believe it.I went through the whole post but I couldn't decide whether that post was copied or the contents were copied.There was another post on her blog where she said the recipe mentioned was her own and she has not copied it from anywhere.I felt bad for her for all the accusations thrown on her-though there were not any names taken anywhere.

But I wonder..M is not someone who would do all this for nothing.She is a very talented blogger who has posted some traditional and authentic recipes from Kerala.Of course one cannot say any traditional recipes are their own or created by them.But I also don't think that she would accuse someone without proper reason or proof as she says.

Food blogging is something we do out of a passion and love for it.So I hope these two bloggers sort it out on their own.Both of them are talented and gifted and I hope they continue posting many more delicacies.

And yes,any anonymous comments hereon would be promptly deleted.

Why do we blog?

Sometime back,while my routine blog hopping,I came across a yummy & do-able kind of a cookie recipe.I was crazy about cookie-baking those days and I instantly bookmarked the recipe.Few days later,when I posted another cookie on my blog,a dear friend sent me a link to this particular recipe which I had bookmarked and asked me to try it out since she had tried it and it came out delicious.I immediately donned my apron and baked the cookie.Needless to say,it came out excellent and we loved it.

Next step was to blog about it.I gave a very clear link[in bold letters] to both the recipe author and to my friend who forwarded me the link.Next thing I get is a very straightforward,[so straightforward that it felt almost rude to me] mail from that person asking me to remove the recipe instantly from my blog since she was the Creator of that particular recipe and she doesn't like her recipes to be published by any one else.She also reminded me about the strict copyright rules on her blog.I told her that I have given a link to her blog,but no,she wanted me to keep only the pictures I took of the dish and edit the recipe,aka remove the recipe part.I did so immediately-no questions asked.Even now,you can find only pictures and not the recipe in that post of mine.

If you ask me,I would be delighted if someone tries out recipes from my blog and blogs about it.I would be content with a link[a small one will do,not even in bold letters:)]But then,I blog about regular Konkani fare which is vast and varied in itself and anyone can Google search and get the recipes.My baking recipes are all from Recipe books,Internet and other food blogs,so no hope there too:).

Which makes me think..what is it that makes you blog[Food blogs,in particular].Is it just to record your family recipes and recipes which you eye-balled and created on your own?Or is it to post about your cooking and you would like to share the recipes and tid bits?And how do you feel when someone tries out a recipe of yours?

Blogging..how it started!!

I remember the first time I read a blog.Years back a dear friend had sent me a link and asked me to read it.She wrote lovely poems,so I was sure her blog would be an interesting read.After a while,I somehow lost the URL and hence stopped reading the blog.My re-entry into the blogging world happened thanks to Orkut.On a boring afternoon,I was hopping from my friend's profile to another[profiles weren't locked back then]and I came across a link on one of the profiles.

It felt like clicking open a treasure hunt.I had just entered into the food blogging world.I used to read food/cooking based sites but this was totally new to me.Someone-like me had cooked something in his/her kitchen and was blogging about it.I was hooked.Day and night[Ok,only day] all I did was to hop from one blog to another.I tried many recipes from the blogs I regularly checked out and I was loving it.

I wanted to start one too,but as usual,I was not sure whether I would be able to live up to the expectations of my own.My cooking skills were average and my photography skills were limited to aim and click.Less said about the photo editing knowledge,the better.But I was willing to learn and hence took the plunge and created a blog.

I took pictures of the food I cooked.But none of the recipes nor the pictures were appealing to me and I kept delaying posting my first post.Later,I thought-unless I start posting,I wouldn't know how or what I should improve.I posted my first recipe-Broccoli Stir fry.Then the next one..and the next and I was hooked.

Slowly,I started getting comments.One by one,they were coming and my blogging just got more interesting.I realized that the appreciation and encouragement we get in the form of comments was more dear than any awards.

Today,after a year and a half and about 250 posts,I still get excited when I do a new post and wait for the comments from my dear readers.

If not for the encouragement,I don't think I would have come this far.Thank you folks..:)