Why do I blog? The 'Dosa' Paradigm

It is so funny how we can get the weirdest and the most amazing ideas at the most unusual places and situations. I was sitting at the nearby south Indian corner this evening and had ordered myself a masala dosa, one of my most favourite meals. As soon as the dosa was placed in front of me I began wondering how many people start eating a dosa from the sides and how many start right from the masala area in the centre. I can write a good blog entry on this, I thought and laughed.

As I started with the dosa, my thought process continued exploring the concept and I asked myself- Come on, why would people want to read about their ‘dosa’-eating habits? 

A typical masala dosa! Image courtesy: Google Images

It is so amazing how thoughts can connect one thing to another. From dosa, I further questioned myself, Why do I continue writing my blog, even though I know I don’t have many visitors? It has been nearly 6 years, and I am still blogging. Why? 

This was when I remembered the current topic on IndiSpire- What inspired you to be a blogger? What is it that still keeps you going? And that was it. Let me write about it, I thought.

So why do I continue blogging?

Let’s check the stats Google gives me. Almost 6 years, nearly 240 entries, about 4 new entries being added every month and about 60 followers. I have about a hundred non-unique visitors everyday from across the world and about 4-5 unique visitors’ comments on most of my posts. I stopped using Google Adsense because showing those ads earned me about 3 dollars in over 3 years and Google’s policies for payment require at least a revenue of 50 dollars which my blog doesn’t seem to be attracting and which also tells me that I am not getting many viewers. But still, I continue blogging.

Frankly speaking, I don’t know why. There are loads of hypotheses and I present seven top ones to you:

1. Blogging is the one thing which in a way defines me. It is like the one thing I can’t live without. All through college and now in university, blogging and I are synonymous for anyone who knows me well. If Mad-Eye Moody would ask me- What is your one big ability? My answer- Writing. I would leave Harry to do the flying.

2. This is the one thing which, if I don’t do for sometime, worries the shit out of me. No blog entry in two weeks? What the hell am I doing? Is my life so boring that I can’t think of a new blog entry idea?

3. This is the one thing for which I easily take time out even if I have a whole load of other works to do. It has been a trend that I have the maximum blog posts in the months when I have my exams.

4. This is the one thing which I prioritise over loads of other things (including the assignment that I urgently ought to do, but I am not, because I just can’t stop myself from writing down this blog entry).

5. Many people in my family and in my friends have started blogs having gotten inspired from me. There have been a few instances when a friend would come up to me and say, Antarik, I finally started writing a blog and I want your views on it. And also, Your blogs inspire me so much to write and even though I hate writing I am going to start a blog! Aaaah…yes, it feels amazing to hear anything on these lines!

6. I have received a lot of freelance writing work but have never taken up anything simply because I hate the kind of articles demanded. I can make little compromises with my writing style but no, I can’t write about ‘5 ways to do this’ or ‘5 things to remember when you are doing that’ or ‘Tips for making your home beautiful’. I can write the way I write in my blog, and if this appeals to you, go ahead, offer me work, and I shall make sure you are not disappointed.

7. Blogging has made me dream…and a lot at it. Probably somewhere deep down in my heart I hope someday down the years, a publisher would come across my blog, love it and would want to convert it into a book (aah…far fetched, is it? :P)

Over 3 years ago, a friend had asked me this question- why do you write blogs? And I had ended up writing a huge explanation for it, giving him seven good reasons. I just checked out the post and I was surprised at how different that post is from the one I have just written.

Lastly, let me come to the fun part- what inspired me to start blogging? I laugh about it when I think of it now, but 6 years ago, it was Amitabh Bachchan’s blog that I had accidentally come across and had wanted to imitate the online writing activity about my life. I had hoped for the ‘hundreds of comments’ from readers within minutes of posting an entry, but then slowly the hard truth has drawn into me- he is Big B and anything he writes is going to be famous. Alas, I need to keep writing!

And just in case you were wondering about the dosa, I always start from the crispy sides and then move on to the masala! What about you?

PS: Read about other bloggers' inspirations for blogging. Get IndiSpired. Click here

You might also want to check out this post from 2011:
"Why do you write blogs?"