Mukesh Bhalse- Featured Author-2012 on www.ghumakkar.com

Hello Dear Ghumakkars,
First of all, a very Happy New Year to all of you! Hope you have left the hangover behind and are as fresh as a daisy on the first day of 2012. Because if you are alert, you would be surprised by the Editorial coming out on the 1st instead of the usual 15th this month. This is one of the changes we are making at Ghumakkar starting January 2012. Read on to find out what else is coming your way.
We have received the response from the Jury members and are in the final stages of agreeing upon the winners of Ghumakkars of the Year 2011. So watch this space for the next few days. You might be surprised by the results.
And next, let me bring to you the first Featured Author for 2012 (for the month of January). It is none other than our bilingual Ghumakkar, Mukesh Bhalse.

Mukesh Bhalse

Mukesh joined Ghumakkar in September 2010 and since then has written 14 posts mostly on religious themes. He and his family are the devotees of Lord Shiv and have pledged to visit one Jyotirling every year. Mukesh has a good command over both Hindi and English as reflected by his vibrant and reflective travelogues in both languages. In fact, he is the only author on Ghumakkar who has written stories in both languages. Quite a feat, isn’t it? We are sure that there is much more to Mukesh than we know of right now. We’ll try to dig for more information and very soon, you too will find out more in his interview. In the meanwhile, click here to read all his stories.
And this brings me to the next change that you will notice soon enough. This channge has been made keeping in mind several requests we have received in the past from our readers. The Interview for the Featured Author will be published on the 15th instead of on the last day of the month as it was being published in 2011. So you won’t have to wait for one entire month to read Mukesh’s interview. So what else can I say! Watch out! And if there is anything specific you would want to know about Mukesh, mail your questions to us at info@ghumakkar.com and we will try to get the answers for you.
Another change that you might notice on the 15th is that you will not receive a newsletter from us as you have been receiving over the past year. This newsletter is being replaced by another feature that you will find out a couple of paragraphs down. In the last newsletter on December 15th, we asked for your opinion on whether the newsletter should stay. We did receive a few responses but we need to hear from more folks to make us change the course of our action. So after reading this entire editorial, if you still feel strongly that the newsletter should stay in lieu of the new feature, feel free to leave a comment.
On popular demand and after quite a few discussions with Ghumakkars and amongst ourselves, we have decided to start publishing Ghumakkar Insights on the 22nd of every month. These insights will be travel articles that are not travelogues written by Ghumakkars. In fact, the first one has already been published. Check out the first Ghumakkar Insights written by Archana Sundara. As experienced Ghumakkars, I’m sure that you will have some useful fundas that you wish to share with fellow Ghumakkars. If you do have some, send us an email at info@ghumakkar.com and we will help you publish it. Remember, while we can create slots for publishing these articles, it is ultimately up to Ghumakkars to provide us with enough material to sustain it. So we will look forward to a huge response to this.
We are introducing a new digest that will be published on Ghumakkar to replace the Newsletter that you usually receive on the 15th. This digest will contain all the information that the Newsletter used to contain (Featured Story, Featured Destination, and Featured Author) and probably more. It will be right here on the website and will be published on the last day of every month.
Amongst all that is changing, there is one thing that remains the same (at least for now). And it is the Authletter, the newsletter that the authors at Ghumakkar receive on the last day of every month. This Newsletter is special in the sense that it contains information specifically meant for our authors. I wouldn’t say a word more. If you are an author, you would have received the mailer yesterday. And if you are not, it’s time to write your first post if you really want to know.
And now that I have talked so much about change, let me talk about it some more. :) After all, what is an Editorial without some fundas!
As a very cliched saying goes “Change is the only thing constant in this world.” But it is not easy to accept change and it is really hard to accept a change within oneself. At times, we consider ourselves too perfect to require any change.

Faced with the choice between changing one’s mind and proving that there is no need to do so, almost everyone gets busy on the proof. ~John Kenneth Galbraith

We love to listen

And that is when we stop growing. Our physical growth may stop when we reach a certain age but there are other aspects of our personalities that we can always continue to evolve. Spiritual, mental, and emotional growths are not restricted by age and there is no upper limit to where we can reach in these aspects. So keep your mind and heart open and try to consider all suggestions that reach you in any form. And you may be surprised to discover something about yourself that you never knew or never accepted. And this is the philosophy that Ghumakkar follows. While, like any other website, Ghumakkar works within a budget, there is no limit to what all we can achieve by simply keeping our eyes and ears open. Your suggestions and feedbacks help us grow and also reassure us that we are able to reach you in some form or the other. And it is because of your feedback that we have been able to understand what our readers are looking for. While we may not be able to guarantee that all your suggestions will be incorporated straight away, we can surely assure you that all your praises and suggestions for improvements will be considered and discussed and will be addressed whether by answering your concern or by incorporating your suggestions. So keep commenting and keep mailing. We want to know everything… :)
Till the next time…