Why do I Blog??????

The topic “Why do I Blog” keeps raising its ragged head again & again. Everytime I read a blogger’s take on this topic I keep thinking about putting up a post on it but it never happened….mainly because I didn’t have enough reasons to put forward in front of you without sounding like…….. like dumb for starters.

Like always let me start at the beginning; sometime in 2005 I registered in rediff specifically to blog….. I must have put up a total of 5 or 6 posts in a span of 6 months, so sporadic & half hearted was the effort that one fine day I realized that I had forgotten the password….yeah just like that. So that was that.

Cut to 2 years later….. the Interior Decoration Company I was working for, had hardly any work at 1 particular point in time & to top it we finally got the broadband connection which was awaited with great excitement. First, games for kids were duly downloaded & loaded at home, then new recipes were tried & tested in the kitchen….then what….oh yes I managed to pick up Excel from the Microsoft site[very easy with complete tips & tricks if anybody is interested]……if I were smarter I would have proceeded on that same track, you know, updating myself with more softwares & information…..but that’s simply not me....I have never haboured any hopes or plans to improve, not then and definitely not now.

Maintaining an online diary appealed to me……..you know, in school & college I used to have a diary where I recorded my thoughts & intentions on a weekly basis….which gradually became monthly & then after my marriage it declined some more & became on a yearly basis…..now nonexistent ofcourse.

I blogged in MSN Windows live for a few months and then for some reason the link to my blog stopped working. I could login but nobody else could view my page. Then a friend suggested blogger which was supposedly more popular with more options & more windows friendly to geeks like me. Painstakingly using the copy & paste option I moved all my posts to blogger. Blogger in the beginning wasn’t at all user friendly & didn’t have so many options which I took for granted in Msn but even inbetween all that the cussing I was halfheartedly updating. I gave my link to friends & family. Nobody bothered to comment except for Bins…..and even she did it mostly out of fear coz she knew I could track her visits thru feedjit.

Then ofcourse I stumbled upon Ps site like any other blogger. After much delibration I tentatively commented on one of her posts. And she so sweetly returned the favour.

Which is when the fact that all my people came in to read what I wrote but didn’t bother to comment finally got my goat. I got mad & locked everybody out except Bins. Then after a few weeks I commented once again at Ps’s blog asking her permission to blogroll her. And Ps wrote back asking me why I blocked my page.

Imagine my excitement………somebody actually wanted to read what I wrote. I double rushed to throw open the gates to my blog once again. Around the same time another blogger
Preethi who came to my blog all on her own & generously commented on most of my posts. And I also returned the favour enthusiastically….though I must say unlike Ps’s posts where I had to break my brains to comment intelligently Preethi posts were easy to comment on.

Out of curiosity I checked for bloggers in Dubai…u know just to see if there were other people trying to kill time like me. After browsing some 400 profiles I come across ISH . I was not planning on commenting but the last sentence in her post just made me want to & I did. Then she commented on mine. The rest as they say is History. After that come rain or shine we have faithfully commented on eachothers post….nothing complicated here but pure loyalty I assure you. Even today she may not update for 2-3 weeks but if I don’t update atleast once a week she will come over & command “Update Woman!!!!”. What audacity I tell you!!!!

Likewise I have no hesitation commenting something, anything in Bins, Renu, Shalom, Winnie, Wannabe.... and Lan's blog even if they didn’t on mine coz our association goes way back. Thankfully with the exception of Winnie, all the rest write about matters I can associate with, so that makes things easier.
Winnie, I like her stories…….now if only she made the effort to complete them. Shhhhhh please don’t tell her I said this….I can’t afford to antagonize her as most of my awards come from her backyard.

And while I’m at it how can I avoid mentioning Agnes, Anjuli, Goofy Mumma, Maddy, Piper .., SMRITI, Sunshine, because irrespective of whether I commented on their page or not they never fail to leave a comment on all my posts.

Nowadays I find myself hard pressed for time but even then when I come across posts which makes me laugh or touches me I make an effort to comment coz I haven’t forgotten my initial struggle in the blogging world[duhhh why do I get the feeling I'm making a “I’m a person who studied hard under the streetlamp & became a doctor” kinda speech].

Very recently I came across a blog which writes exactly the way I think but never been able to put it on paper with the ease she does. Infact her post on this same topic is what actually got me to write this post finally. And here is another blog …..the sense of humour I instantly connected with. And no....I didnt put her down here because she wrote about me last week. I was the one who commented first on her blog 2-3 weeks back. So there!!!!
ummm......coming back to what I was saying......similarly there are so many others out there who match your mindset & are just waiting to be read. How exciting really!!!!!

At the risk of being labeled a fake I have to tell u that I don’t write or in this case blog for myself. I don’t consider myself a blogger per se, more like a story teller. So just imagine a story teller without an audience…likewise me. I’m sure I’d have stopped blogging loooong back without your encouraging comments.

Yes like Lan mentioned once when we get a certain number of people following what we have to say, there is a bit of expectation associated with it. But since I don’t write about Global Warming or How to eradicate Poverty in the 3rd world countries, I get away with the gross misappropriation of facts & figures.
Again the important thing here is that it is precisely because of that expectation that I make an honest attempt to deliver.

And ofcourse not the least, I cant totally deny the fact that I like penning down my thoughts & random incidents in my life which tickle my funnybone, posting it hoping you find it as funny or moving as I do. And while I'm at it, let me without an iota of shame assure you that I absolutely love receiving comments & will happily proceed to further discuss the matter with you in the comments section.

Now if only I had encouragement like this to lose some weight :-(