Sunday, May 31, 2009

Why I Blog(ged)

My last post was in February. I don't think I've spent such a long time away from my blog. Ever. It's not that I really don't have the time. Blogging doesn't take too much time. And it's not as if I don't come online. I do that almost every day - night rather. So what kept me away?

I started blogging in August 2004, when I was slogging it out alone in Coimbatore. I had just about joined my present company, and I was shipped out to Coimbatore, a place I had last been to when I still wore shorts to school. There was nothing to do, nowhere to go, and nobody to be with. That's when I came across the world of blogs. Here was something new. Write just about anything you want to, and keep it open for just about the whole world to read. Imagine, suddenly your world is populated with people who aren't even in your part of the universe. I had a personal diary back then- that I still have the same personal diary with more than half of it empty is testament to how regular I was/am - but this was the other side of the earth! Write about your deeply personal life, and leave it out there! In the open! The comfort of being anonymous in virtual world. And the chance of making new friends, without the barrier of geographic space coming in between. So I started my blog in rediff. And here are the last few lines from my very first post:

"I am going to try to find adventure and life - no matter how commonplace or routine things probably are. I walk down the same street every morning to office. I get up on the same side of bed with the same odd dry feeling in my throat. I eat at the same place atleast once a day. The same boy serves me my breakfast. I get my tea at the same teashop at the corner. And darn me if i don't see the same faces as i do daily. Whatever, i am going to see if i can find something worth writing and posting. And if i can prompt you, my reader, to look into your own life and see if you couldn't do the same without thinking that life is just 'ok, nothing new, all the same as yesterday', then i should think that my fingers aren't going crazy by typing for nothing."

Five years from then, nothing's the same anymore. New place, new people, one of them new-born. Is it that I find nothing interesting anymore? Is it that I get no time to stand and stare? Is it that I don't feel lonely anymore? Did I start blogging to stop feeling lonely? The answers aren't all a 'yes'. My blogging was a way out of loneliness, and I don't feel that anymore. My world is full now. And I find it hard to keep a watch on Time flying by on his winged chariot. But my world is still interesting. What I see out there, whenever I get to go out, is still interesting. I guess I just needed some time to see what this new life was like.

My friend recently asked me if marriage and fatherhood had left me with no time for myself. My answer was an overwhelming yes. I wonder if that is true though. I think I can still make time. I think I still want to blog.

10 comments:

Jason said...

Hi,

I have been a quiet reader for sometime now (Google Reader brings your blog almost to my home)!

Just thought I would show up and say 'Hello' ....

Keep blogging dude. Great going. Congrats for being at it for 5 years and still wanting to go for more :)

3inone said...

Hi Shain,
For me it wasn't about loneliness. It was just about writing. And strangely these days I just don't write. Although, I'm trying to get back to blogging regularly.
Glad to see your post.

CuppajavaMattiz said...

Everyman, Glad to have you back.. I do check your blog from time to time. Glad to hear you will be blogging again. Or is it that blogging has lost it's charm? :-D

claytonia vices said...

"And I find it hard to keep a watch on Time flying by on his winged chariot."

how true!!

Dex said...

Gee!

Sumo said...

Hmm...introspective post...good one, tho! U shud continue blogging! It's also a great way to keep in touch!

claytonia vices said...

Great way to keep in touch... with that inner self too...

The Penny Lane said...

I have always liked the genuinety of your blog and this post is really touching because I have always thought about why we blog as well...
I am a fickle and an ordinary blogger and have asked myself, am I blogging because I feel lonely?
I am/not lonely is relative...sometimes you might feel all alone even when you are hugging your 10 best friends or your bf/gf...So, I blog because I like to read your genuine posts, smirk at Divyan's funny posts, see Chaitanya's amazing pictures, read/sometimes glance through long posts of the most honest person I know/my ex-roomie etc.

Though most of post less these days, I think we should not stop...let's keep blogging! :)

Seema Smile said...

I understand your sentiment since I don't blog often after marriage either. My husband's blog is all but dead too. Chrys and I met through blogs but now the reason for us being together is being ignored totally :)
I have decided to try an make a post every week at least now.

Everyman said...

Hi Jason: I've not had too many silent readers :-)Glad to know that u've been a regular, although i can't say the same abt myself :-/ Do speak out more often bud.

@3inone - it wasn't just abt loneliness here..but it was one of the factors..it was a way to reach out..plus ofcourse, the pleasure of seeing your words online..but yeah..to keep writing..now that's something...

@Mattiz - Not the charm buddy..the charm's still there..oh but for some more time..Now THAT is something i cd use...