Saturday, April 18, 2009

I made it to D

"England has got people like Matt Prior, who has gone home because his wife has had a baby - as if people have never had babies anytime” was Geoff Boycott’s cynical comment in a column last month.

In a similar vein, if I announce that this is my 500th blog post ( so Blogger informs me), I know I run the risk of being ticked off that I am not the first person in the world to reach this milestone. Big deal.

But, Matt Prior was entitled to his moment of rejoicing. True, babies are born all the time, but this was his baby. Similarly, I can make a big deal about my ‘achievement”. Hell, this is my 500th post.

I can’t recall why I chose the name “Plus Ultra” for the blog. I had read a story somewhere that, till the 15th century, the Spaniards had the words, “ne plus ultra’ below the coat of arms on their flags. The words meant “no more beyond”, that Spain was the ultimate place, and there was nothing more to be discovered. But when Columbus discovered the Americas, they quietly dropped the suffix ‘ne’ and ever since, their flag carries the words “ plus ultra”. Probably, this sounded as impressive a name as any other and I chose it. One could always change it, midstream, if one didn’t like it or if one thought of something fancier.

Some of you may want to know the secret of staying the course till the 500th post. It is somewhat like the answer the centenarian gave on reaching the age of 100 and when asked how he managed to live so long. He said, “Reach the age of 98. Then be very, very, careful”. My advice to new bloggers is the same. “Somehow make it to the 495th post. Then add 5 more”.

As for the others who are racing towards their 1000th or 2000th or n0000th post, my suggestion is that they should slow down. No point in burning themselves out.

Update: While going through the list of posts later on Blogger, I discovered that 4 of my drafts had also been counted. So, technically this is only my 496th post. Please adjust………

7 comments:

Anjana R said...

lol...am new to blogging myself; yet to reach my 5th post much less 500th! so id say this is quite an achievement. congrats :))

v said...

woah! 500? congrats! :) *well.. even if it is just 496!

Raj said...

Anjana, perplexed: Thanks

DC said...

Here's to M! Congratulations.

DC said...
This comment has been removed by the author.
Sugar and Spice said...

That's an awesome achievement, Raj! Congrats!

Raj said...

DC,Indu : Thanks