A lot! Practically everything I have today, is due to blogging. And I am not talking money here. I am talking purpose and direction. I am talking meaning.
Listen to my story.
My first blog was an experimental web-based diary. It was hosted at a service called tBlog. Back then, I used to go to a cybercafe once a week to check my email and update my blog with whatever had happened in my life in the last seven days.
In time I graduated to blogging about stuff I found on the web. One of my pet obsessions was taking email services for test drives. I was a frequent poster on the Email Discussions forums. I did all of this for no other reason than my love for the web. Perhaps that is why this hobby has paid off so many times.
When I decided to pursue journalism, nobody was surprised when I chose New Media (it's about time they started calling it cyber media - it's not 'new' anymore). At the admission interview, I discovered I was one of the few who had made that choice. Everyone else was either into TV, or newspapers.
I also discovered, to my pleasant surprise, that no one had even heard of blogging. However, I like to believe that at least two of the faculty members had. My level of web-awareness got me an admission.
During the ten months long course, I realised I didn't like news writing. During those ten months, I learnt a lot about blogging as a social phenomenon. That was also the time when I attended my first ever bloggers' meet and made URL-friends. I was willingly consumed by blogging. Even my term-end dissertation was on blogging (I have forgotten the full title).
Then came job hunting. I didn't want to work for a dead-tree publication. I couldn't see myself as a TV person either. I insisted on an online gig. Nothing was forthcoming. So I sought out work as a copywriter in an online marketing agency. They managed the web presence of companies who couldn't be bothered to do it themselves. There was nothing social about it. We were practically making brochures.
I quit in a month due to a pestering old hag (my immediate superior). I thought she was loud and obnoxious. I also didn't like her because she sucked at computers and had no respect for them.
I started dreaming web dreams again. I was still unemployed. But I was blogging and was happy.
A couple of months later (during which I did nothing but write stories and send out my resume to web-based publications) I got an email from a major web portal. They had an opening for a sub-editor. I was also told that they were considering integrating news blogs into their regular package of offerings. I jumped at it. I suspect posting my blog URL on top of my resume had something to do with the job offer.
I liked my work and my new office. But during my stint as a sub-editor, I discovered many important things about the way my mind worked.
It was around this time that I started mypajama.com. It got me a fair reader base and I got constant and mostly positive feedback on my stories and essays. More importantly, I started imagining myself on my own. Doing what I pleased with my time and making a living for myself based on what I love doing.
Six months ago, I quit my job to write a book. What I feel right now, is indescribable. If you don't know what it is like being on your own, nothing I say will make it real for you. I spend my day reading and writing. Taking breaks in between to do the work that brings me my monthly pay.
And I owe it all to the hobby I picked up in a cybercafe five years ago. And it was costing me 40 rupees an hour back then. Those were the days! These are the days!
Listen to my story.
My first blog was an experimental web-based diary. It was hosted at a service called tBlog. Back then, I used to go to a cybercafe once a week to check my email and update my blog with whatever had happened in my life in the last seven days.
In time I graduated to blogging about stuff I found on the web. One of my pet obsessions was taking email services for test drives. I was a frequent poster on the Email Discussions forums. I did all of this for no other reason than my love for the web. Perhaps that is why this hobby has paid off so many times.
When I decided to pursue journalism, nobody was surprised when I chose New Media (it's about time they started calling it cyber media - it's not 'new' anymore). At the admission interview, I discovered I was one of the few who had made that choice. Everyone else was either into TV, or newspapers.
I also discovered, to my pleasant surprise, that no one had even heard of blogging. However, I like to believe that at least two of the faculty members had. My level of web-awareness got me an admission.
During the ten months long course, I realised I didn't like news writing. During those ten months, I learnt a lot about blogging as a social phenomenon. That was also the time when I attended my first ever bloggers' meet and made URL-friends. I was willingly consumed by blogging. Even my term-end dissertation was on blogging (I have forgotten the full title).
Then came job hunting. I didn't want to work for a dead-tree publication. I couldn't see myself as a TV person either. I insisted on an online gig. Nothing was forthcoming. So I sought out work as a copywriter in an online marketing agency. They managed the web presence of companies who couldn't be bothered to do it themselves. There was nothing social about it. We were practically making brochures.
I quit in a month due to a pestering old hag (my immediate superior). I thought she was loud and obnoxious. I also didn't like her because she sucked at computers and had no respect for them.
I started dreaming web dreams again. I was still unemployed. But I was blogging and was happy.
A couple of months later (during which I did nothing but write stories and send out my resume to web-based publications) I got an email from a major web portal. They had an opening for a sub-editor. I was also told that they were considering integrating news blogs into their regular package of offerings. I jumped at it. I suspect posting my blog URL on top of my resume had something to do with the job offer.
I liked my work and my new office. But during my stint as a sub-editor, I discovered many important things about the way my mind worked.
It was around this time that I started mypajama.com. It got me a fair reader base and I got constant and mostly positive feedback on my stories and essays. More importantly, I started imagining myself on my own. Doing what I pleased with my time and making a living for myself based on what I love doing.
Six months ago, I quit my job to write a book. What I feel right now, is indescribable. If you don't know what it is like being on your own, nothing I say will make it real for you. I spend my day reading and writing. Taking breaks in between to do the work that brings me my monthly pay.
And I owe it all to the hobby I picked up in a cybercafe five years ago. And it was costing me 40 rupees an hour back then. Those were the days! These are the days!
