Blogging about the blog...

It all started with the fateful Indigo trip from Nagpur to Pune. The story was interesting and loads of fun (for others of course!). People came from “pachas-pachas kos door se” and called from “pachas-pachas hazar kos door se” to hear the misery from the horse’s mouth. Being center of attention was fun to start with (though it was all about narrating my own misery with lots of chat masala applied), I got bored in a while. Then Vikram suggested that I should blog it out. I did and just got hooked.

And... 3.5 months and 9 posts later, the level of enthusiasm is down and the amount of energy is down. There are lesser number of visitors and even lesser number of commentators. Is it coming to an end? Is it me or is it them? To be fair, the amount of wit and fun is dwindling down and I am digging deeper into serious topics. I know for a fact that the one about black holes was a bit too serious and not to the liking for most of the people.
Many of you liked the “open door policy” one but the fact is that it was half typed long time back… and I just published it as is (and hence the abrupt ending!)

One of the problems with expecting others to read my stuff is that they expect the same from you… and you are forced to say good things lest they get nasty with you (which they sometimes do through anonymous comments!). Fortunately for me, there aren’t too many buggers, er, I mean bloggers around… and fortunately for me, some of them are good… Manas writes deep and serious stuff and Vikram writes deep and serious stuff… Ah! They both write deep and serious stuff but they are good (Am I doing what I just said I need to do to get good comments?! ;) )

The comments are far and few now but the anonymous ones still take the cake. If the “hot and cold” one I got for the moon posting was hilarious, the one I got for the last one (“open door policy”) is mysterious. It goes like this, verbatim –
“From Travel to astronomy to management was a great shift. Just nobel prize did not fit in. Probably can be interpreted as a reinstatement of what was said some years back.”

If you find it cryptic, don’t you worry mate, you are not alone. My first reaction was “Who? When? Why? Where? How?” How did some one know that I was going to blog about Nobel prize “some years back”. And did he speak to me about it? I don’t remember any such conversations!
The second reaction was – “Mate, Nobel prize was part of the Astronomy story. What’s your point?”
Anyways, the great part about anonymous comments is that you don’t get any clarification… I was expected this to be a comment from Vikram but he plainly refused – may be he wants to remain “anonymous” :)

Sachin P has never left a comment at the blog site but his verbal comment to me was that I always criticize someone or something in my postings. He might have a point but I wonder how would you have fun, and how would I have fun if all I do is talk goody goody… taking off on someone is the easiest way to have fun, ain’t it? How many of have Not laughed when one sat on a chair which was not there where it was supposed to be! The irony is that I had just published my “Nobel prize” posting in which I actually did not criticize anyone (thus bringing down the already dismal hit rate) but Sachin just refused to comment about it!

Anyways, the worst thing I can do is take off on the people who actually do leave comments… I think it’s a cardinal sin and I should stop doing so (while continuing to take off on the rest of the world!)

One positive by-product of the blog has been earnings through AdSense. While I am very tempted to click on the ads, I am not allowed to do so… I have to depend on well wishers to get some real moolah. My total earnings in the last 3.5 months is a handsome US$ 1.03. I am sure this would be mainly through ads like “Toto toilet” which appeared because of my “flush” posting… I know for sure that Venky clicked on it a few times. Guys, this thing is fantastic. I am earning in dollars sitting in India!

Having started and left the travel postings way behind, I am still sometimes tempted to go for travel stories though I have been advised against it. I almost did it a few weeks back when I took some 7 flights in 7 days in Europe… folks - 7 flights and that too in Europe are enough to make someone commit couple of murders and a harikiri, a blog posting is nothing as compared to that! Still, I curbed my deep desires and managed to keep together the last few visitors!!

If this sounds like a swan song, its not! If it sounds like I am going to stop blogging, I am not!! My last posting invited 8 votes and 3 comments which clearly means at least 7 people visited the site (1 vote was from me, heh, heh!)… more than that, the amount of fun and satisfaction I get is immense… in fact, if you don’t have a blog of yours yet, I suggest you have one… it’s loads of fun… And don’t forget the fact that you can earn some real $$$!

Anyway, have decided that no more mailers from this time on. My fans (ek!) would anyway visit and losers would never!

Ladies and Gentlemen: signing off now… Please leave your views through comments and votes! What? Dunno how to leave comments? Just click on the “x Comments” link below where "x" stands for a number (which is the number of comments left so far)…
I will be back soon – keep checking this space once in a week :)
And last but not the least, please vote (scroll down to vote)…