People have asked me “Have you tried to write stories?”. Well, to all those well wishers of mine, I have indeed attempted my hand at creative writing but withdrew my hand just as quickly after about 3 sentences after realizing that my “story” had to story about it. Numerous attempts at hanky panky poetry also proved unsuccessful. I had nothing to write about.
And then, I discovered Mouthshut while Googling for a Hindi serial that stars a hot actor (Sanjivani, to be precise). There it was, just sitting away quietly (OK, maybe not SO quietly) at a corner of the internet, nestled among the search results.
I clicked on it, and was hooked till this very moment.
A God sent miracle, I tell you to appease the hungry storyless storytellers like me.
Which is precisely why I love MS so much. It gives me something to write about to keep my little grey cells busy. I love it for that simple, basic reason.
No more do I have to think, “A story about a cactus? Nah, too lame. What about a story about a purple sock who fell in love with a red mitten?”, and other such nonsensical plots. I have finally found a niche where I can safely, productively, sociably and confidently expand my writing skills on a given topic. Yay!!!
Mouthshut pleases the critic in me. When I read books, I think “No, that’s the wrong way to phrase it” or go “Wow this writer is amazing in the way he manages to breathe life into words”. No more do I have to bottle up all those weird opinions of mine in a water proof, sealed-and-corkscrewed bottle aka my mind. I can let it all flow and then later reanalyze, and criticize my own opinions. Kinda like a Praveena vs Praveena debate.
And then there are the profiles. They are like the space to channel all that creativity and self image. When a profile page is seems really, really interesting, I get drawn to check out that member’s reviews, just out of curiosity… Don’t you?
And then there is the whole RRC thing going on in MS. Read, rate and comment. That, I feel is very important, especially the ‘C’ that’s extremely motivating and encouraging though not always bestowed on me. But then again, I don’t comment only every review I read or rate, only ones that really, really leave a impact or when I actually have the time to really write out a heartfelt comment.
My profile says that I have rated 720 reviews and commented on 179 reviews. Each time I read, rated and/or commented, I was learning how to accept other’s opinion and at the same time form my own opinion. Ms taught me to be opinionated but appropriately so and also how to agree to disagree.
Which of course brings us to one of the few blemishes of MS. Certain reviews are really really irritating the way they simply can’t bear to accept that another person might have a different opinion. These reviews go about in a mad, raving manner instead of stating their opinions with a certain amount of tolerance.
They see things from one single perspective, and point blank refuse to look at the bigger picture. Reviewers who can’t agree to disagree.
Everyone is entitled to their own opinion so why don’t you just get that instead of spewing out bile like anger through comments, ratings, fake IDs and distrust lists.
As for the trust and distrust lists, till today I still scratch my head, pull my hair wondering what they are there for. I’m gonna go bald soon.
Though yeah, the above opinion might be slightly hypocritical considering that I’ve a fair amount of people in my trust list. I guess I just don’t like to leave that nice space in my profile empty and while its there (the trust, distrust thing) I might as well make the most out of it. :-D
One of my greatest shortcomings is how I find it impossibly difficult to write effective reviews on topics that I don’t feel strongly about. An effective review in my eyes is a review that comes spilling straight from the heart with a genuine interest to share my opinion where just the mere act of writing and posting the review is self satisfactory enough that it doesn’t really matter how many RRC’s it gets or what others think of it although that too is greatly appreciated like the icing on the cake.
(Whew, that was one long sentence)
The thing with effective reviews is that I take time to think them out and can’t just churn them out ad hoc like some factory made machine.
To me, purely from my point of view, I am particularly fond of my review on Advice on Music Education and The Bachelor Of Arts. Those reviews took some time to think out and formed themselves when an occasional flash of genius lit my usually dull mind.
So contrastingly different compared to my straightforward, somewhat impersonal review on Parineeta Album which was written just for the sake of writing a review.
Back to MS. MS hosts a wealth or extraordinary pieces of good writing as well as a handful of crappy irritating reviews. Some writers here are so good at what they do that reading their reviews is an experience in itself. Who needs a boring, book toting English Teacher when we have got Mouthshut? To my English Teacher, you’re fired! Hehehe… I wish!
Okay, okay, I’ll get serious again
Mouthshut is the platform where individuality, tolerance, creativity, and self expressal all merge together for one to compliment the goodness of the others and reduce the negativity of each emotion.
It is like a Beethoven symphony where all sorts of diverse instruments come together as one to make music except that MS doesn’t make music, it makes people.
I so can’t believe that I just wrote this review. I mean, at just 14 reviews old, I’m might not be as ‘qualified’ to babble hither dither about https://mouthshut.com.
But hey, I tried and I feel good about it that I finally said all this out aloud for you to listen. Talk about an exposed soul.
Sincere apologies if you feel that I have romantized MS too much, what with my bizarre analogies of music, bottles and bile. Not to mention various items of wool that I mentioned somewhere in the 3rd paragraph.
I just love bombastic words and long twisting sentences… Don’t you?