Accolades

Blogging in itself is definitely rewarding for those who are passionate about writing and connecting to the rest of the world. Yet, for every blogger, there are some moments that stand out over others. These are some moments that blogging has given me that I will always cherish.

The Only Indian to win First Place in Season 1 and 2 of Write India, India's largest Literary Contest

 In 2016, I beat out 25,000 entries to be a Winner of Season 1 of Write India, India's largest ever crowd-sourced literary contest. 

In 2018, I did one better, becoming the only Indian to win first place in both season 1 and 2 of Write India.

2020 Update: 

I ended up in 4th place for author Vivek Shanbaug's prompt in Season 3

*****

 Bragging Rights: Best Blog for Creative Writing in India (2014)

Image: Blogadda
9 February 2014

Winning the 'Best Blog for Creative Writing in India' award at India's first Blog Conference and Awards Ceremony, WIN'14. 

The jury consisted of many famous personalities from across diverse fields including director Padma Shri Shekhar Kapur, Shobha De, Vasundhara Das, Ashwin Sanghi amongst others.

You will find me at roughly the 3:25 minute mark in the video here...

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Winner of the Best Blog from Kerala in the 2017 Indian Blogger Awards

So yes, that happened too!

Thank you @indiblogger This is definitely getting laminated and put up on the wall. It is a good thing I am not one to show off or else... WHY ARE ALL OF YOU LAUGHING??!? I DON'T SHOW OFF, OKAY!! OKAY?? OKAY! (goes to other social media forums to start showing off)

A post shared by Roshan Radhakrishnan (@pythoroshan) on Jun 25, 2018 at 6:16am PDT

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MY BLOGPOST GOING VIRAL WORLDWIDE (May 2015)

So I wrote a post on the failing Indian medical system on May 15th 2015 with the 'apparently controversial' title 'Why I would never allow my child to be a doctor in India.'

Before I knew it, the medical fraternity had picked it up and shared it across all social media, attracting the attention of newspapers, TV channels and eventually landing me on:

• BBC, 
• BBC Radio 
• British Medical Journal 
• ScoopWhoop, 
• NDTV, 
• Scroll, 
• Asian Correspondent, 
• The News Minute, 
• Manorama, 
• Quint, 
• NagpurToday, 
• Deccan Chronicle, 
• Oddpad, 
• DocPlexus and 
• DailyRounds.

One of my deepest regrets here is that though I could garner so much attention, I could not help change the medical system in India. It still remains broken and in dire need of an urgent overhaul.

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Honoured to be one of the speakers for Changing Tomorrow Youth Summit 2017 alongside celebrities like Raveena Tandon & Sachin Pilot.

Changing Tomorrow

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A SPEAKER AT THE 2018 TIMES LITFEST in Delhi

I got to be a part of the prestigious Times LitFest in December 2018 at Delhi. 

I would go on to a host a session on the 'The Young and the Restless' which featured stalwarts including:

1. Natasha Badhwar - the 1st videographer in news television and popular columnist

2. Dr Shelja Sen - TEDX speaker and Child & Adolescent Mental Health therapist.

3. Dr Samir Parikh - Director of the Fortis National Mental Health Program.

4. Nupur Dhingra Paiva - a leading Child & Adolescent Psychotherapist 

It was a truly amazing experience where we dealt in detail with aspects of mental healthcare both from the point of view of the parent as well as peers of young minds. Personally, it was humbling to see my name in a distinguished list of speakers that included the likes of former Presidents, present national leaders, celebrities I have grown up admiring and authors I loved to read.

You can watch the full video of the session here.

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OTHER MOMENTS OF PRIDE:

• From the BBC to the INDIAN EXPRESS & DECCAN CHRONICLE, I've been interviewed by the media quite a few times. 
• Featured in the Doctors Day Special Edition of Manorama Arogyam (July 2016)
• Chosen as one of India's Top 500 blogs for the sixth year running.
• The highest rated Indian blog to feature in Feedspot's Top 100 Writing Blogs & Websites in the world.
• Being tagged as one of the TOP 25 Bloggers in the Country alongside some others like you know, Narendra Modi, Amitabh Bachchan, Amit Agarwal, Chetan Bhagat, Shobhaa De and Kiran Bedi! 
• Being featured in India's best blogs list.
• 'Gold category' of Top Indian Bloggers with High Domain Authority. 
• Winning the Times of India Write India contest. (Times of India link here)
• Being selected as India's Premium Blogger by Blogadda and heading a discussion there. 

Take Me for A Ride!

1. RENAULT LODGY (2015): 

Was happy to be a part of the #LiveLodgycal experience.

Image courtesy: DeckleEdge

You can read about my experience with the car here. The overall party atmosphere with the fellow bloggers can be relived here. You can also find me giving my opinion about the vehicle in the two official Renault videos below.

A lot of fun being a part of Renault's LiveLodgyCal experience in Goa (June 2015).

2. LAND ROVER (2014): 

Was a once-in-a-lifetime experience being part of Kerala's first #LandRoverExperience

Yes. That is actually me!

Image courtesy: LandRoverIndia

You can read about my entire experience here.

3. TATA ZEST (2014):

Lovely to see TATA evolve and come up with their best vehicle yet in the ZEST. #ZESTUPYOURLIFE was a super fun event.

Team Awesome : My driving partners and fellow bloggers
Sneha Sharma and Aseem Rastogi

Image courtesy: Shilpa Garg
Don't you just hate it when you are trying to take a group snap
and India's fastest man, Narain Karthikeyan jumps in at
the last moment? Sigh... happens all the time, right? 

• You can read about the experience with the car here.
• Read up about the fun blogger meet we all had in Goa here.

4. TATA ZICA (2015)

You can read about our experience with the Tata Zica here.

Also, check out the superb blogger pic moments -

beach soccer, celebrities, karaoke & 5 star luxury, it is all here 

5. INKTALKS (2014)

Winning my first blogging contest in nearly a decade allowed me to be part of the elite crowd who got to attend the 2014 #INKTALKS and meet some of the most inspiring people from both India and abroad. You can read my post on it here.

Blogging also gave me so many opportunities to be besides celebrities whom I would never
have otherwise met in my life.

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PUBLISHED STORIES & ARTICLES:

Till date, over 20 short stories have been printed in anthologies in India and abroad. You can find the whole list along with a description of the stories and the link to buy them here.

They do not include the 30+ articles of mine that were published in e-magazines, news sites and journals. 

BOOK LAUNCHES AS AN AUTHOR:

• Urban Shots:Bright Lights in Pune 2012.
• Ten Shades of Life in Bangalore 2013.
• Myriad Tales in Mumbai 2014.
• Write India in Mumbai 2016.

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Blogging contests

Over the years, nearly 50 blogposts have won commendations or prizes in various contests, be it Blogadda's Tangy Tuesday and Spicy Saturday or just specific contests. You can see the whole list here.

 

Kind words from fellow bloggers:

• Kind words from Sushmita M.
• Featured in Write Tribe's post-AtoZchallenge review post.
• Wonderful reviews for my published story 'Father of My Son'.
• A concise review of my story 'The Ballet Lesson'
• Ankita stands up for me in a tough fight.
• Sushmita M talks about the influence of my words in her life. Awww! *blushes*
• In the list of best written work of 2012 by Saumya.
• More high praise from Saumya.
• From fellow co-author and friend Meena.
  
• Being considered an inspiration to blog by Seena. 
• A whole post dedicated to me by Dr Riyaz Sheriff.
• Ritika gives me a thumbs up in her interview.
• Godyears reviewed by FBR
• An early review by Orkutheroes.