How I survived 120 hours of social media wilderness. The secret life of a food blogger.

A teenager once again

There is no denying the fact that I am a child of social media. Born on the internet. Even though I am 47 years old!

I would not have had the good fortune to have published a book, written columns for newspapers, met you at food walks or at conferences, won awards for writing, or had you reading this, had I not begun writing my blog in 2007. It was a hobby at the start and I was a market researcher by profession. Never did I think then that food writing is something I would end up doing ‘full time.’ Content creating to be precise. Not just writing. I do record podcasts, shoot videos, post pictures etc. Story telling has become a lot more multi-dimensional than what it once was. Though I would like to believe that the essence remains the same. As I heard K say in a work meeting recently, ‘a story should compel you to keep asking what next.’ Paraphrased.

As you might know, I had decided to take a break this Diwali.

I had realised that you need to take a break at times even if you love what you do. That implementing this boils down to self discipline if you work for and by yourself.

The plan was to go off social media for 4 days. From last Thursday to Sunday. To not open my laptop to write. To not use my phone to record something or to go live. To not photograph everything that I ate. Not even my breakfast!

At the end I extended the break to Monday and partly Tuesday. That is how much I enjoyed it. Needed it.

I must confess that the headline of this story is a bit clickbaitish and you can poke some holes in it. Technically it was 6pm on Wednesday by the time I stopped working. If you consider making a Canva Diwali card to wish people as ‘work.’ There were 3 blog posts that I had been meaning to write. 4 perhaps. I fought the temptation to open the laptop to do so. I did check my social media accounts occasionally. Hence, not literally ‘wilderness.’ In my defence, it was just for a few minutes each time to see if I had received any DMs or comments that I needed to address.  I did post 3 pictures during this period. Mood pictures in black and white of the cats and me. No stories. No food pictures. No #finelychoppedbreakfasts etc. The only food picture that I took till Sunday was of the pan seared salmon (the fish was sent by Meatigo) and a penne aglio olio (with Souffle Mumbai olive tapanade and Ishka Farms sofrito) that I made us on Sunday night. I did not post it though. Unimaginable!

Dinner from the #FinelyChoppedKitchen

I did not have any withdrawal symptoms in case you are wondering. Not much FOMO (fear of missing out).

One thing that helped is that I had an upset stomach on Wednesday afternoon and K had the same at night. So we went a bit light on food over the next few days. I showed #kayteecooks how to make Bengali style murgir jhol and kaatla kaalia plus she made me fried eggs, bhurjee and toast for breakfast and yesterday, hummus. When #noorbanucooks came to work, she would make me khichuri the way I taught her too plus alu paratha and chicken pulao from her repertoire. Not posting pictures meant I got a break from queries such as ‘who is #kayteecooks’ and ‘what is happening to #noorbancooks’ from readers. I cooked khichuri on Sunday and there was almost no food from outside that we had, apart from Candies chicken sandwiches during the break.  Plebeian stuff which most instagrammers would not post and which I do not get bored of posting normally. Except that I did not this time.

#kayteecooks #finelychoppedbreakfasts Monday I think

I do not work to strategies/ schedules/ trends while publishing on social media. Nor to specific goals. I just keep sharing what is happening in my life. Which meant that there was nothing that I would not achieve professionally by taking the break. Or so I believed. I was at peace. I have no reason to think in hindsight that it was otherwise. That I had lost out on something.

I saw many positives from this (even though the dust from the renovation work at home meant I was down with a scratchy throat once my tummy got better). I genuinely felt rested during this period. My mind felt lighter. I could sense the smile on my face. I was more ‘in the moment’ when with K or with the boys (she might say that the latter is never an issue for me!). I called my grandmom in Kolkata more often than I do. My calls with my mother got longer (she does most of the talking). My back did not bother me. I did not manage to sleep as early as I would like but that did not, er, keep me up at night!

Mamma’s boy

Some of you might know that I practise Nicherin Buddhism. Chanting plays a central role in this and I enjoyed my chanting more as I focused more on it and less on the phone. As I did our Soka Gakkai (online) meetings.

I re-lived my childhood ‘boi’er poka’ (bookworm) days after years. Aided by a Pullitzer winning book, All the light you cannot see, which had been ordered in by K. I began reading it and was gripped by its fast pace right from page one when I started reading it on Thursday. The book was set around the second world war. A genre I have read a million books on and love. I felt like a teenager once again, as I lay in bed stuck to the book on Monday and finished it just as the sun was about to set (I started reading it on Thursday). Would have been impossible if I had kept checking the phone! Full credit to the author, Anthony Doerr, of course.

I skipped my evening walks. The boys were a bit unsettled with the sound of crackers, I had my tummy bug and then the throat bug. So I stayed in. Since I had home food, small portions of it, very little sweets, I was not worried. The scales did show a bit of a dip in any case. Yay!

While my initial plan was to resume work on Monday, I took Monday easy as I had begun to enjoy the break. I did wonder for a moment if this was wise. Taking a long sabbatical after I left market research is what had pushed me to a dark place a few years back after all.

Things were different then, I told myself. That was not a break of my choosing. I did know what I wanted to do next then. Neither of which was the case this time. Plus, in Buddhism they do say that every moment is an opportunity to make a fresh start towards creating value and fulfilling ones purpose. Do not be constrained by what happened in the past or be intimidated by the unknown future (paraphrased).

Extra day’s leave sanctioned, I told myself!

Well it’s not every day that I get to interview a Nobel Laureate!

I did get back to ‘work’ yesterday (Tuesday). I recorded two podcasts. One with Sonali Naik of Divine Flavour for the #FoodocracyForHer series. The other with Abhijit Banerjee, the Nobel winner, on his next book. Wait till next week for the latter.

I did not spend much time on social media yesterday barring to talk about these chats. I did publish a few Instagram stories of the boys at night though as I had learnt that our friend H was missing their updates. So were others I assume. And a few stories about work contacts who were kind enough to send Diwali gifts. That’s all.

What next now that I am back at work?

I think that I will continue to be a bit reticent on social media. Flit in occasionally. Keep a distance from its frenzied pace. Not contribute to the same myself. I wanted to see if I could switch off. I can, as I saw.

What are the odds of it actually happening? Are you a betting man (or woman)?

Write in and tell me. And, at the risk of sounding needy, did you miss me?

The interview with Sonali: