Being a Blogger for 2 Years

Exactly 2 summers ago, I entered what now is well known as blogosphere. Circa 2006, Nidhi had started his personal blog a month ago and had asked me to have a look at it. Nidhi as a student in our school days was an active participant in literary events and had several news paper articles to his credit. Nidhi’s blog inspired me to start one.

Naming Ceremony : To give anything a name can be one of the most difficult tasks in the world. We have heard stories of how companies like Google, Apple, Hewlett Packard got themselves named. I had to think a lot about the name for my blog. At last, named it ‘Ee Prapancha’ – taking cue from my friend Nidhi, his blog being eNidhi – A Professional Amateur. Well, Nidhi had this metaphor ready long before he started blogging, calling himself enidhi, when we were at nascent stages of our computer education in high school.

My Little Moments of Fame: They say, for any artist encouragement/appreciation is the boost to create a better work. Naturally, we get excited when our work gets recognized. I still remember Sandeep’s phone call telling me that our reviews on Gaalipata have been listed on thatskannada.com. And then came the big one – my report on Kannada bloggers meet held this year being referred in Bangalore tabloid, Mid-day. This time too the detective was none other than Mr.Sandeep aka Shande, the Bond 007 of internet! Latest addition to this list is my article on seminar conducted by kannadasaahithya.com. kannadasaahithya.com‘s editor Shekhar Poorna had called me to compliment on the article. These little things make a lot of difference in the long run and makes you nostalgic at times.


Close to being a Journalist: Camera is my constant companion whenever I go out. One of my friends keeps teasing me for the obsessive photographic hobby and will tell enthusiasm in the initial days of photography will end soon(raveesha, ee hurupu estu dina iruththe antha nodtheeni? – how many days this enthu will last?). Well, it is more than a year now since I bought the camera and enthusiasm has not died and will not die in the near future. Sometimes I wonder, instead of enjoying the place, do I keep wasting time in capturing the pictures? Journalistic look is natural for a person with camera going for a public function. Last year when I went to Kannada Saahithya Sammelana in Udupi I had this equipment to capture almost every scene in the literary event. Stall owners at the event kept on asking which news paper I work for? I explained me being a blogger. Next time it was similar experience, when I was in Hubli taking picture of Rani Kitturu Chennamma circle. One more thing more evident these days, I keep thinking about how to report if I attend an event or how to write a travelogue if on a trip. Also this is being constantly reminded by the people around me when they ask – enappa idanna blog alli haakbidtheeya? – what man, you will put this in blog ?

To Send or Not To Send: I had often faced this dilemma when I had written a post on the blog and about to email the link to my friends. I would think whether it would be yet another spam mail to them! Or will they get irritated seeing the mail. It was about some 6 months ago when I had to resolve this but now I wish people visit my blog voluntarily or through search engines. Well, I do send email here and there when I feel this info needs to reach my friends :)

Commenting in Reel Life: Commenting is the best part of blogs or rather blogging. Comments by the readers start a dialogue between the author and reader and sometimes discussion among several readers. Traditional writing such as in newspapers, magazines, books used to provide less scope for these dialogues. Though newspapers provided someway for comments from the readers, they are moderated and there is space constraints in newspaper space to put only selective comments and in case of magazines, you need to wait for 1-2 weeks before your comment gets published/answered. In case of blogs though there is some moderation from the authors more often, comments get published. Space constraints are unheard of, giving it a democratic space to voice opinion. When somebody comments on my blog I make sure that I answer their query if any and these 2 years have taught me how to handle the aggressive and witty commentators and accept the compliments from the like minds!It would not be out of place to say that this has certainly changed the way I communicate with people whether verbally or in a written communication.

That was a scattered account of my experience as a blogger. Well, I would like to hear feedback from you, the readers, as you had always done in my earlier posts. Also, I want to know what kind of posts you liked to read in this blog and whats that new genre you would like me to explore. Your comments are valuable in this regard.

Thats all folks, its Raveesh, the blogger signing off for now, ending yet another blogging week! See you soon. :)