Skip to main content

Why I write

My blogging hit a milestone - 13,000 views to date - I know I will be the first to say its another meaningless number but I am the one doing the writing so I am allowed to make exceptions.

So then why I write is not because there are readers as much as it helps to get feedback from the blogosphere on how they perceive the commentaries, but to satisfy an innate need to vent, pontificate without repercussions, or simply to ensure that my brain is still coherent enough to articulate thoughts.

As I write this blog, coincidentally I finished reading one of Andy Rooney's last books titled 'Out of My Mind'.  Master of puns and astute observer of the human condition he ranks amongst one of my favorite writers.  In the preface he wrote -

"How much do I have to say that anyone cares about reading?   If you write for a living you have to put modesty out of your mind.  One thing I know is, that you can make an essay out  of anything.   There are times when I have written on subjects I know very little about.  A writer can do that.

He has the advantage of looking things up or ask questions of people more knowledgeable than he.  He can sit back and think before putting words on paper.  This puts the writer one up on the reader and often makes him sound smarter than he is.  I try to do that.  It does not seem dishonest.  I comb my hair  and try to wear decent clothes so I'll look better than I would naked, so why shouldn't I try to write in a style that makes me sound smarter than I really am?

I am not a great writer but I don't write badly often so this passes for good writing."

While it is foolish to draw any parallels between me and the great Andy Rooney I do see some similarities in the approach.  While I don't have as much hair as he did at 90 I can do away with that cosmetic arrangement and use the tool called Google to substitute for hours of research that he might have had to contend with, I agree with being able to craft any thought that comes to mind in the form of a modern day essay - aka blog.

So here's to another 13k.   That would almost make it a marathon?
Labels:

Comments

  1. RajendraJune 7, 2015 at 6:10 PM

    13k is a good number. Keep walking, with or without the aid of Johnny.

    ReplyDelete

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Presumptive Society

Today's world is hyper connected.  I am not so sure what it means but you hear it a lot.  It is probably hyper but not sure how connected it is.  Sugar (fermented or not) is available in many ways than before and so getting hyper is easy.  It is probably more a threat than cocaine since it is sold legally. And what is this connected stuff?  Most people I encounter seem disconnected from reality.  So going back to this assumption that we are connected there are subtle and no so subtle instances of how brands and companies and middle men try to portray someone - A linkedin profile for somebody working for X years at a place advertises to the connected network that so and so is CELEBRATING X years @ Such and Such Inc. Do we know if (s)he is celebrating or cringing?  Perhaps a better way to portray will be - So and So LASTED X years @ such & such inc. Then it exhorts the readership to go ahead and congratulate them for this lasting effe...
2 comments
Read more

Of Jims and Johns

Here is another essay on the subject of first names. As in birth names. Or names provided to an offspring at birth. While the developed world tends to shy away from the exotic like Refrigerator or Coca Cola for their new production there is a plethora of Jims and Johns and Bobs or Robs. Speaking of which I do not think there is a categoric decision point at the time of birth if a child will be hereafter called as Bob. I mean have not yet met a toddler called Bob or Rob for that matter. At some point though the parental instinct to mouth out multiple syllables runs out and they switch from calling the crawler Robert to simply Robbie to Rob. Now speaking of - it is strange that the name sounds like something you would not want Rob to do - i.e. Rob anyone. Then why call someone that? After all Rob Peter to Pay Paul is not exactly a maxim to live a young life? Is it? Perhaps Peter or Paul might want to have a say in it? Then there is this matter of going to the John. Why degrad...
2 comments
Read more

On the go(zay masta) in Japan again

Cool cat the Japanese are Tokyo at dusk  My second visit to this land of the rising sun after almost a decade. Back then clearly I was wet behind the ears product manager and likely didn’t pay attention to all (efficient) things Japanese. But today I did and of course continue to be impressed. It is as much the obvious stuff like on time travel that is both clean and comfortable and all that which makes it possible. The impressive landmark and landscapes that these humans have put together despite their cramped (or because of it) surroundings and precarious geological conditions could amaze a novice architect among us. But it’s also the little things that someone had to think about which have a phenomenal impact on day to day lives that make the Japanese stand apart. Below are few random examples- 1. Providing a very fine machined wooden toothpick in every packet of wooden chopsticks. The said chapsticks are simply set on the To Go counter of any food vendor/ convenience store wher...
Post a Comment
Read more