The Fun of Blogging

-

It’s been a pretty long liaison with blogging now.  I started it way back in 2001 when I bought my first desktop.  It was with Times of India’s blogging space that I began.  Soon I switched to Sulekha which offered many incentives.  Apart from the gift vouchers that came from Sulekha, there were quite a few committed bloggers there whom I really liked.  I got a fairly good share of readers too there.  But the love affair with Sulekha ended when a team of Right wing bloggers dominated the whole platform and started posting unsavoury comments with malicious intent.

Wordpress hosted my blogs after that for a few years.  Then something went wrong.  Apparently someone hacked or tried to hack my site.  It stopped working properly.  Then I migrated to Blogspot where I have remained for all these years.  But many of my fellow bloggers whom I read without fail stopped blogging for various reasons.  Some are in the family way, some immersed themselves totally in their careers, and some just gave up.  Maybe serious writers and thinkers lose interest in blogging because there are very few serious readers in that sphere.  My personal observation is that frivolous writing gets more readers in blogosphere.  I may be wrong, however.  Maybe I have not sought far and wide enough to discover serious bloggers.

Apart from those readers, I miss also the Happy Hours that IndiBlogger used to provide a few years ago.  Happy Hours brought a lot of gift vouchers with which I bought countless books from Flipkart. I wonder why that concept of Happy Hours died.  Maybe, some bloggers didn’t make use of it with sincerity and authenticity.  Maybe, the business concerns which provided the gift vouchers didn’t find it worth.  Maybe, there are other reasons.

Blogging, anyway, is personal writing to a large extent.  It is a personal gratification, at least.  It still remains that for me.  That’s the fun I have discovered in blogging.


PS. Written for IndiSpire Edition 188: #Blogging

Comments

  1. Jyotirmoy SarkarSeptember 23, 2017 at 10:15 AM

    Good to know about your blogging journey.

    ReplyDelete
  2. ARSeptember 23, 2017 at 2:35 PM

    It has hardly happened that I followed any other blogs seriously except yours. I don't remember how I ended up on your blog about a year ago, but ever since I am hooked and I read every article you post. They are so insightful and thought provoking, sometimes funny and sometimes melancholic!!
    I always wanted to start a blog and share my thoughts which are kind of inline to your thoughts and the way you see this world. I have just started my blog, a long way to go. You are such an inspiration... One day I wish to see blog grow like yours.
    Thank you so much :)

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Tomichan MatheikalSeptember 23, 2017 at 7:35 PM

      I'm flattered. Never imagined me as an inspiring blogger. Thanks a ton.

      Delete
  3. Rajeev MoothedathSeptember 23, 2017 at 8:42 PM

    "Blogging, anyway, is personal writing to a large extent. It is a personal gratification"- Perhaps this is the reason you have lasted for so long!

    ReplyDelete
  4. SaketSeptember 24, 2017 at 4:48 PM

    I thought the left and right wing thing hadn't come to bloggosphere the way they had in social media, till I read about your Sulekha experience.

    And yes, I liked the happy hours and contests in Indiblogger. :)

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Tomichan MatheikalSeptember 24, 2017 at 7:46 PM

      Sulekha was run by some insane right wingers, I think. That's how it appeared.

      Let's hope indiblogger will revive the Happy Hours.

      Delete
  5. Pranju chakrapaniSeptember 25, 2017 at 7:02 AM

    On certain occasions I have witnessed the rush of the bloggers to submit blog posts only to get goodies from that site. I hate being a part of that rush. Blogging for me has become more of a mood, a hobby which is strongly attached to the thoughts that linger in my mind for days. I hate being in the rush and write things just for the sake of vouchers .

    Having said that, I always wanted to know your blogging journey and glad to know now the starting point of that journey . you are really consistent with your passion. And I really find it worth praising.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Tomichan MatheikalSeptember 25, 2017 at 7:38 AM

      If bloggers were authentic those happy hours would have done much good...

      These days I'm becoming lazy. But I must persist and go on....

      Delete
  6. Sapna DhyaniSeptember 26, 2017 at 1:29 PM

    You are right Sir. I find blogging to be therapeutic as it helps one to articulate the million thoughts churning inside the mind. And yes, frivolous posts get the maximum likes..maybe because it's all about who is more active and "out there". Thank you for sharing your blogging journey here.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Tomichan MatheikalSeptember 27, 2017 at 5:57 AM

      Blogging has also become just another social media where likes matter more than the content.

      Delete
  7. UnknownNovember 21, 2017 at 2:48 PM

    I like to get up early to go out and breathe fresh air. I feel that it is good for health and a good habit
    http://19216811ll.com

    ReplyDelete

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

The Adventures of Toto as a comic strip

-
Image
  'The Adventures of Toto' is an amusing story by Ruskin Bond. It is prescribed as a lesson in CBSE's English course for class 9. Maggie asked her students to do a project on some of the lessons and Femi George's work is what I would like to present here. Femi converted the story into a beautiful comic strip. Her work will speak for itself and let me present it below.  Femi George Student of Carmel Public School, Vazhakulam, Kerala Similar post: The Little Girl
Read more

Reading Comprehension for senior students

-
Image
  For a change from politics that is at once comic and depressing, let me turn to academics today. Here are seven of the reading comprehension passages I prepared for my students recently. Hope some teachers and students will find them useful (especially the former). Passage 1 1.       Plastic is extremely durable, highly flexible and inexpensive to produce. Unfortunately, it is terribly detrimental to the environment. In fact, we use so much plastic that we send a shocking  12 million metric tons  of plastic in the ocean each year. Once there, the plastic pollution breaks down into microplastics that find their way into fish stomachs and bird nests, accumulating in the marine food chain. 2.       How can we prevent plastic pollution from destroying vulnerable marine ecosystems? This is a pressing problem for Norway, whose inhabitants have earned their livelihood from the sea since prehistoric times. That is why Norwegian companies and research institutions – which have been lead
Read more

Writing Skills - Invitation

-
Image
  Many teachers often ask me for help with the topic of 'Invitation' in CBSE's writing skills section. I condense CBSE's questions in this section thus:  What that means is: 1. There are 2 types of invitation: formal & informal. 2. Formal invitations can be in the form of cards or letters.  3. Cards are used when you have to invite large numbers of people (anniversaries, marriages, etc.) 4. Letters are used when you invite a few individuals.  Example: judges for a competition, chief guest for a function. 5. Informal invitations are used when your function is informal. Example: birthday celebrations, party for celebrating admission to a prestigious institution. 6. Strictly formal replies are used only by people who have ( or should have)  enormous egos. Example: bureaucrats, ambassadors. 7. Formal replies are just ordinary formal letters and informal replies are plain informal letters.  Let me give examples for the above types so that they become clearer.  1. Formal
Read more