ABOUT- The Blog:

Welcome to one of the toughest part of our lives. Defining ourselves and who we are. Or what they call the About page in blogging.

Where to begin:

A large part of our lives goes pondering over ourselves- what I like to eat, read or the subjects or career I want to choose, places I like or would like to visit, things I like to do in spare time and so forth. But when it comes down to articulating and putting down the same in writing, many of us (not everyone) must feel at a loss.

Take this About page for instance. It took me more than a week to write anything worthwhile about me or the reason for starting this blog in particular. For a brief introduction I am a practising professional. So far my writing work was limited to my professional domain.

After this brief introduction allow me to try your patience as I tell you a little more on the reasons and inspirations behind this blog.

Inspiration for the blog:

I am very fond of old Hindi movies and songs. While searching for one such song – “Woh jo milte the kabhi hamse dewanon ki Tarah” on the net, I stumbled upon the blog “Dustedoff“. That led to an introduction to many more such sites about old movies, songs and the like. The reviews and writing of all these were fresh, personal and witty. Until that I always felt a bit old fashioned/ outdated in front of my younger cousins or colleagues. Most of them have least interest in the old Hindi cinema or their songs. But this blogging universe is fantastic. I have found so many people who share my liking, indeed have more knowledge, share it and interact on it.

So all these people whether running their blogs or the visitors engaging with the writers became an inspiration to start writing something myself.

After researching on the net I found out that all posts/  blogs written on the topic “How to start your blog”  have a unanimous opinion for beginners:

“Start with the subject you are passionate about.”

• My interpretation of which is “Choose a subject you can write a lot about.”

A subject to write a lot about:

Choosing a subject on which you have sufficient hold and a liking towards usually, if not always, comes from those things in which we take interests, which form part of our hobbies or sometimes interests which may turn into a career. Well this differs from person to person.

For me it’s kind of a mix. Since my favourite author is Ms. Agatha Christie, I plan on dedicating a major part of this blog to her books and wherever possible their screen adaptations. Besides Ms. Christie I also mostly read Sherlock Homes mysteries, closely followed by Erle Stanley Gardner’s, Perry Mason novels. Watching television, old Hindi and other movies in general is one of my other preferred pastimes. Also movies made under the aegis of CFSI are my real favourites. So these will also take up a major part.

And I forgot about Phantom:

This about page needed an addition after my post on Phantom. So, yes Phantom is my favourite comic super-hero and hope I can write more on those books.

So all these together are the basic topics on which I think I can write decent amount of stuff. However, I also intend to keep this blog wide enough to write on any other subjects that I feel strongly about. They may be related to my work or education or any other current issues.

The Name:

Thinking a good and relatable name for your blog/ site is a tough job. So just indulge me a little more as I try to explain the particular name chosen.

WONTED can mean many things from usual, conventional, ordinary, prevalent, normal to routine, familiar, common or unremarkable. It can also mean mundane, run-of-the-mill or unexceptional.

Conventions develop/evolve when people conform to a particular set of beliefs or point of views. These beliefs or views can relate to both traditional or old and modern/ relatively modern line of thought. And then, stereotypes get assigned or images formed in line with our chosen conventions or commonplace ideas.

To go beyond the wonted is to me an attempt to break-off this usual or routine fare. It’s not a promise, but just an effort to seek a new meaning within prevalent norms.

Keep Visiting:

I am just trying to define my chosen topics in a way that I relate to and feel I am offering something offbeat or distinctive.

I sincerely hope that whatever the subject, I am able to live up to the name chosen for this blog: Beyond the Wonted.

I also look forward to all those who read this blog and hopefully like it, join me in this little effort.