Pastel Ladies Don't forget to follow us on Instagram via the link above! Admins on Mirakee : @thegreymetaphor @hayat_

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  • maybeyoushouldreadapoem 35w

    We do agree with you that there's nothing wrong with posting square sized images with one liners, maybe our point is a little easy to miss. It's about the quality of content especially when you're marketing your app, i.e. mirakee directly or indirectly. (Which we believe, is the sole thing they're doing. Good for em, btw.)
    Moreover, insta might be a photo based platform, there's a huge section of audience that's inclined towards reading with some pages having thousands and thousands of readership. We can name you lots of em, but we don't want to because most of em also have 'select writers', which we don't. We would never want our sources to be fixed, even if that means the flow of 'good' content would be a guarantee. I think that itself says a lot. Our engagement focuses less on what writer it is, and more on, look what beautiful thing this is, by a writer in our community. Go appreciate the art and the person behind it. The hierarchy doesn't prioritize on the basis of the person first. Which is exactly also why if someone feels that they've been purposefully excluded, (even though they're not, really), it's never the person we're seeing.

    Appreciating good content doesn't imply it's an elite job, don't you rather think it brings good exposure and encourages people to grasp the artform and boosts creativity and artistic maturity? Everyone here, mostly, including us ofcourse, sucked at it in the start. We've gotten better because of our appreciation and approach. We were grateful for our reach, but never entitled to it. That defeats its entire purpose. Doesn't mean you can't wish if it could reach more people, rather it ain't the reason that stops you. Like you said, it's not an elite job; if you write because you find joy in it, why would someone else's writing and appreciation stop you? We don't intend to give a message to anybody that they can't enjoy their art, or telling people that they need to develop 'a good taste' or whatever, but if seeing good things makes someone envious, not in a healthy way -- but that they start to fester negative connotations to it, I'd rather suggest there's some self-reflection for a person to do. And that's what we do as well, we enjoy other people's art and share it. Now call us biased, because nobody can be without 0 biases forever, but we try to listen to everybody who has something to say to us. Which is why, as well, when we sensed our endeavour would give off a competitive aura, as mentioned in the earlier post, we collapsed it entirely. We scraped everything. Rules, timings, everything.
    We try to be as politically correct and polite as we can, now if someone serves offence to themselves by their own thinking 'oh they never appreciate me I write too' and start dissing on everything else DESPITE them seeing our efforts and recognizing that we're maintaining our word and work ethics; I don't know man. Do they not read books? Do they not share and suggest the ones they like with people? Heck, people even diss the ones they hated. Now that'd been the problem. We don't. Because even you implied art is for enjoyment. And again, that's what we do too. We enjoy sharing art that gives us enjoyment, and when we shared it here, the place we call a home, people here were excited for it, because they liked what we appreciated too, and ever so kindly told us that we could do justice do it. I don't think we can entirely, we might make mistakes. We're only humans. Add on to it, we're both nerveballs, we're always wary of bothering people and constantly keep apologizing; take consent for every conversation, every little thing we pursue. Our love for art isn't only selfish when it comes to our ownselves, if it were, some of our admin's writes would've also been the first up there. It's not that we don't think ours is not 'good content'; but we realize what made us start the platform in the first place.

    Secondly, not much people really refer to PODs on this app, by themselves -- (well, to each their own. A few people said to us, that this encouraged em to read and write and explore more by themselves through this, we TRULY CANNOT have asked for anything more.) -- coming to the PODs again, no offence, but they aren't always up to the mark. Please don't get us wrong but it's not that hard to see that they are more about popularity (which isn't wrong, at all times); usually centered around hot-topics (coming from a person that received one for the same); and now, sometimes even, just for the sake of inclusivity than about content (as in, koi bol de, ki meko toh kabhi milta nahi, writersnetwork doesn't love me whatever whatever, they kinda...just hand it to em you know?) And consequently, the meaning of the same content gets lost.

    Sure that's our personal opinion. But again, we're aware we can't please everybody; because no matter how hard we try, there is gonna be our personal touch to it. Our personal tastes.
    And that's what people are liking as well.
    We put our heart and soul into curating those pieces, enquiring about the writer's bit, and adding our own bits to it. If we don't know a subject matter that the poem is written on, we educate ourselves a little, ask the writer for more context, read a few articles and write two-three lines about it only after we think we've fully grasped it; and present the same to our readers to enjoy in its entirety too.
    Personal stories behind the write, interest a lot of people. So do personal meanings. Sometimes things sound very pretty, but interpreting em becomes hard, we have a few pieces incoming that'd hopefully resolve that too and give a backstage lens into the making of something and understanding the art of metaphors. I do like to believe these things make us different, and a lot of this is only possible on Instagram, for ease and a breath of fresh air, and engagement and all those other reasons we already said.

    And I'm sorry but I feel like you've interpreted our initiative in a completely wrong way. It's not looking down upon anyone or judging anyone's efforts or even throwing shade at the officials. The incident with mirakee did propel this idea further, but it was never ever a rebellion. NEVER. And I'd beg to differ, I don't think we were being harsh on mirakee at all, we just laughed on it amongst ourselves. Bad day, good day, sounds like a real reason, but they collectively seem to be mostly gloomy if that's to be believed. To keep posting things without even reading it, is not a mistake, but plain ignorance. Mistakes are corrected, ignorance is feigned. No one can really make valid excuses for that.
    Also, I did reach out to them, remember?

    Like you said, app pages are meant mainly to pull audience, if you see it from the opposite lens, outsiders will also will also get to know about mirakee and might join here. Just a thought?


    We recently received a query and thinking it might be an opinion shared by many, we've tried to clear things out a bit.
    I hope it explains our side. If there are questions, we're open to them. :)

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  • maybeyoushouldreadapoem 36w


    This is one feedback we received:

    "One thing I would suggest, dude, there's so much good content housed in mirakee, just one poem each day sounds enough? Also, think in that aspect that the write you're putting on your Insta story, are you doing justice with it? Because even that one was chosen, even that one was admired by you, but because you guys had decided on one post/day, you went ahead with one and the other on your story. How much reach is guaranteed on a story? I don't think many people would bother to read and go appreciate it on mirakee, in comparing to the post. And don't you think choosing like this, i.e. between good content itself, creates an unnecessary competition?

    Also, your original idea was the same you remember, you told me you just wanted to curate good things you read on mirakee and post it on Instagram for an audience that'd appreciate it as much as you do. How will competition play into this then? You don't want to become another Mirakee account on Insta."


    This initiative was never meant or birthed for competition, just appreciation. In an attempt to give structure to the initiative, and schedule our daily time with the work we'd have to do on the page, we laid out a rule-book, a time-period for posting, etc etc. And now we're realizing, that it's harming our initial motive in the first place. And we absolutely do not like that.

    Ofcourse we will continue to post good stuff, just irrespective of other factors. We will still read on a daily basis, we will still ask people for their consent, we will still be open to answer all your queries, and everything else.

    We were afraid that we would be overthrowing the entire structure of the initiative but nothing matters more than what we set out to do and that was to find good content and giving them a platform for appreciation so that anyone in their leisure time can explore and appreciate art just for their own sake, and feel as joyous as we do, as content as we do.

    We do think how we'd laid it out actually does create a competition and it's just the start right now but once we have more content, we're scared that this would get more tough and unfair for everybody in the long term.
    Moreover, choosing strictly one, more or less, feels like what mirakee or writersnetwork would do. And that's exactly what we didn't want to be. Art is not supposed to be competitive.

    We've also decided we're gonna do away with the 4-5 pm deadline 'cause it creates a kind of pressure from what we've felt yesterday? Anytime we find something good, we'll ask the writer for their consent, and just post it. Even if it's more than one post, that's okay. And someday if we can't even land on one, or we skip out due to personal reasons, that'd be okay too. We want to take all the focus out of everything and make it only about an archive of all things good that Mirakee capacitates.
    What we really mean is, let's make it all about pushing good content and ours and yours happiness.


    Please let us know in the comment section what you think of this. And please share this as much as possible, through tags and reposts. The more people this reaches, the more we have your support and know that we're doing the right thing.

    Also, if it's not too much to ask, we'd request you all to stop tagging us in posts for a few days, since this post will get shared and reposted, the entirety of our notification tab will be filled with those notifications and we won't be able to segregate and keep an eye on the tags amidst those plethora of 'liked-commented-reposted' notifs. We already have noted down and picked out very good content from the stuff that we've read+explored until now, which we'll continue to post these few days so that wouldn't be a problem. We'd also let you know when you can resume tagging us, which would be very soon. We'd appreciate if you show your support and leave your thoughts below!

    Thanks, once again. :')

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  • maybeyoushouldreadapoem 36w


    1. Hastags would be a good tool for segregation ON Instagram rather than Mirakee because Instagram has by default 'grid' feature if you search by hashtags. But it won't really be of any use to us, because our content curation isn't gonna be FROM Instagram. We'd definitely use #maybeyoushouldreadapoem and a couple other generic tags below our Insta posts though. So that exposure through hashtags would also be covered.

    2. Mirakee, on the other hand, has the 'list' feature by default if we search by hashtags, and WE CAN'T EVEN CHANGE THAT, WTF. (If we're not mistaken)
    So you can see where we're going with this. Hashtags on Mirakee would be useless for the admins because if we keep scrolling and scrolling to read entries, it won't just be irritating and messy, but also very time-consuming and draining.
    But we know, and we definitely understand if the readers here would want to read the entries. That's why, readers and writers alike, can very well go ahead and use #mayeyoushouldreadapoem, so that it reaches more people within Mirakee.

    But for the curation process for us as admins, we'd request you to be thoughtful and tag us @maybeyoushouldreadapoem
    Only then would we be able to reach the tagged entries.

    We hope this clears it out.

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  • maybeyoushouldreadapoem 36w

    As we've already mentioned, our primary aim is to strive to read as much, and share the quality content with you all that lies scattered here on mirakee.
    For that, we'd be grateful for help from you guys too.

    We'd appreciate it if y'all would take out time to tag us in the content you think is amazing.

    NOTE :
    It does not have to be a recent piece. It only has to be good enough.
    So feel free to tag us on your mirakee favourites, however new or old. Be it poems or stories or letters or anything else.
    You can tag us on your own post too if you think it's something really good.

    We'd love to read and share them.

    Also, since we all are well aware the mirakee notifications can be accomodated only up to a fixed limit, we urge you to be selective with your tags. Lest, half of the tags just disappear from the notification tab. We don't want that. :(

    Lastly, mercy the two people here, we're just starting off, so go a bit easy on us, won't you? :P

    Rest, you know the drill. The comments are open for every question, suggestion, feedback!

    Happy Reading, folks. :D

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  • maybeyoushouldreadapoem 36w

    D'ya have a headache?
    Maybe you should pop a paracetamol.

    Have you been feeling hungry?
    Maybe you should try something delicious.

    Have you been feeling dejected lately?
    Maybe you should get some needed help.

    Have you been sick of the world, altogether?
    Maybe you should sleep it all out.

    And if you've been feeling all four?
    Maybe you should read a poem, first!



    Before we start telling you the criteria and the structure for posting and reposting content, we'd like to give a little backstory to our page name first.

    We suck at naming things and we're not at all shy to admit it. After loads and loads of experimenting with Greek-Irish-Japanese Pinterest-worthy words, and failing to give 'em our kinda meaning to it; we wanted something simple and elegant. Maybe with a punch of humour. We moved on to recalling book references, our favourite songs and movies for inspiration, anything that'd give us an edge. Alas, we'd suddenly forgotten all the books and movies and songs we'd ever loved. Relatable, right?
    Yep, we laughed on our helplessness too.

    In just a matter of seconds, our frenzy thought process went like --
    "oh oh think of a book name"
    "idk man��"
    "oh oh what book are you currently reading rn" to
    "oh oh it's 'Maybe You Should Talk To Someone' by Lori Gottlieb"
    then directly to
    "is 'maybeyoushouldreadapoem' is a good enough name"

    We took a second each,
    and chuckled a little louder in realization.
    It hit.
    Humour, sass, sweetness, and most importantly, a very good piece of advice!


    We absolutely love it. What about you guys?


    Coming to the what happens on the page, we'd love being transparent. Here's how each thing would go:

    CRITERIA: As mentioned already in (@hayat_'s) most recent post;
    Structurally, none at all! Prose, poetry, stories. However long or short. (If it's a story in parts, it can be nominated after it's been entirely completed).
    Anything and everything that's creative/fresh/insightful/original/witty/has good imagery etc etc qualifies!
    In no way does it have to be popular enough, or concentrated around hot-topics only. The idea is to give a platform that appreciates quality content, without any other qualifiers.
    We'd love all the help we can get so we'd really appreciate if y'all will take time and tag us in pieces you think are good enough.
    NOTE: The tags do not have to be only on new or most recent pieces. Go ahead and pick up your favourites, however old or new and let us know which ones they are. We'd be more than happy to read and share them.
    Go easy on us though since mirakee notifications can be accommodated only upto a limit. So be selective. Tag us only on the ones you really think are good.

    Just so everything plays fair, we've divided the content we'd read in two parts--
    1. The tagged content.
    2. Individually explored content.

    Both of us will alternate reading content between those two sections, meaning one day it's Srishti (@thegreymetaphor)'s turn to read the tagged content and Hayat (@hayat_)'s to explore individually; the next day, vice versa).
    In the end one of the two pieces will be chosen to go on the Instagram page.

    The other piece, you ask? 'cause it'll be no less awesome right?!
    We'll repost it here from our (@maybeyoushouldreadapoem) Mirakee account so it's more accessible for everyone to read, and also post a screenshot of it on our insta story.

    We'd put up both the Mirakee and Insta usernames of the Writers in our insta stories and posts, so they get their due recognition and appreciation! Please make an effort to appreciate both the pieces, won't ya?

    The posting and reposting time on Insta and Mirakee, respectively, would be around 4-5 PM IST.

    Also, since we prioritize consent, the reads of today will be posted tomorrow, so that both of us, the readers and the writers of the pieces, have an adequate 24 hour period to ask for consent and respond. And in a case where somebody would be unwilling for whatever reasons, no questions asked; for us to read some more and look for another.

    Feel absolutely free to drop us any queries, suggestions, feedback, anything in the comment section. We'll make sure we answer each one of you, we promise.

    Thankyou, really, for all the love and trust you selflessly bestow on us, can you see us crying through the screens? Trust me, we are. :''))

    Your very own Pastel Ladies,
    Srishti (@thegreymetaphor)
    Hayat (@hayat_)


    If you can, tag your acquaintances in the comments below, we'd genuinely appreciate you spreading the word.

    We hope you guys help us build the same community spirit on Instagram, too. Our Instagram handle link will always be in our bio. :)

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