This week, we are on a mission to find out about a blogger who was born in Pune and according to blogger sources is now in Philadelphia. It is chilly morning in Philadelphia as we set out to find more about him. We found him finally in one of the offices sitting in a corner, stealthily injecting bugs into the code and we caught him blue handed. 🙂 For the first time, Indian Blogosphere will see the face behind ‘Gawker‘, The Man who has short but crisp answers to all the questions we posed in this all exclusive interview at BlogAdda.
Q: Your introductory post carries a detailed description of the kind of posts you like to write. For example, “If I decide to write about brushing teeth, it will be about that instance, when, during the act of brushing, the toothbrush grew wings and escaped in flight, with me running in pursuit. Or if the simple act of taking a shower begs to be written about, then it will be done only if I discover prehistoric human remains within the hidden depths of my bar of soap.” You’re certainly not lacking in imagination. Where do you get your whacky ideas from? Have you considered writing fantasy?
A: Thanks, I think the key is to set your mind free. Absolutely free. Kick that bugger out of the house. Let him ramble. Through the woods and the fields and the township sewage treatment facility. Tell him not to come home before dinner or you’ll have the whip ready. Most times when he returns, you’ll need to give him a shower but there are those few occasions when he’ll have something valuable sticking to his sweater. Then, drink a lot of tequila and put that into words.
I would write fantasy, but it would only end up turning into robot porn. Trust me, I’ve tried.
Q: What does the ‘Goose Egg’ in your blog’s URL mean?
A: I couldn’t think of a name for the damn thing and I didn’t want to be another “Fairly Random Epiphanies from an Encephalopathic Cerebrum” kind of guy so I just looked up the various synonyms to “nothing”. “Goose Egg” turned out to be one of them. Also, I HATE CANADIAN GEESE AND HOW DO YOU LIKE YOUR BABY ON MY BLOG, A$$%$%$? I’m sorry, I’ll turn the caps lock off now.
Q: Money hain toh honey hain. What does CGawker do for a living?
A: I write bugs into software and show other people how to fix them. Sometimes I save enough money to put into bad investments.
Q: Pune or Philadelphia? Where you want to spend the rest of your life and why?
A: Pune is the city of my dysfunctional childhood and teenage angst. Philly is my working adult present. In the long term, I hope to spend my old age living off the land as a hermit in Vermont or New Hampshire because I’ve been in love with New England ever since I went to school there. Also, it is one of the few places in the Northeast from where you cannot smell New Jersey.
Q: Choose one of the following options: ‘The Autobiography of C Gawker’ will be shelved under which of the following genres? Tragedy, Horror, Science, Fiction, Romance, Science. Can you give us a brief about it? 🙂
A: If there were a shelf tagged “Boring” or “Excruciatingly Mundane”, my life would be on it. Therefore it follows that if I were to write my autobiography, in order for it to sell more than four copies (thanks mom, dad, Raju Uncle and again mom), it would have to be and reside under “Fiction”. It would begin with my dad informing my mom that she’s invited to the party in his pants and end with me on my deathbed still trying to erase that image.
Q: Describe the ideal reader for your blog. What is the best comment/compliment you have received from your reader?
A: Anybody harboring any kind of non-pedophilic psychological deviancy. Corpses are okay. The best comment I ever received was “Hello. And bye.” My second favorite was where somebody said that I make them laugh and make their day happier. I’m sure that even my employers would agree that a comment like this makes all the office time that I diverted towards blogging totally worth it.
Q: Do you have any specific grouse against your fellow netizens?
A: Yes, more v1cod1n, less v1@gr@ please.
Q: Have you ever been trolled? If so, can you share some experiences? If not, is it because of any specific measures on your part, to protect yourself?
A: Once in Central Park, New York. Never on my blog. I’m not sure why. Perhaps because 99% of my readership is perpetually high on some sort of controlled substance (not life). The rest are my sister.
Q: You blog about your co-workers in your ‘office’ posts. Do your colleagues and your boss follow your blog? Has this ever lead to any awkward situations for you?
A: No. I’ve been unemployed once and I do not wish to partake of that experience again.
Q: You have a number of posts tagged ‘photography’. What camera do you use? Can you tell us about related software and/or tools that you find useful?
A: I use a Canon Powershot SD 790 IS and if they pay me for this endorsement, I’ll soon be using the SD 1450 IS. I use Flickr and I hope they find that missing “e” soon.
Q: A lot of your entries are short and funny observations of daily life. Do you think you would want to depict some of it in a visual way, probably cartoons? If yes, we would love to which one of them and why?
A: I tried doing cartoons once using MS Paint. They weren’t very well-received. I blame my high school biology teacher who taught me to put boobs on everything.
Q: You have been anonymous but well-loved by the Indian blogosphere. Tell us a secret about Gawker, something that’s never been heard before on the internet.
A: I only know the breast stroke. Try not to drown in a swimming pool when I’m the only other person around.
Q: Do you ever get stuck when writing an entry? What do you do then?
A: When I start to write, I know at once whether I have it in me or not. If not, I don’t force the issue. I stop writing, take a break and come back to it later. Lately, I have taken to jotting down ideas as they appear in my head because I have a terrible memory. Then, it is just a matter of stringing them together in a blogpost.
Q: How important is it for a blogger to interact with their readers? Do you respond to all the comments that you receive?
A: It really depends on the purpose of the blog and its readership. If it is a personal blog that you began to write because you needed to feel appreciated, of course. It is the polite thing to do. If you’re a high-traffic blog, you probably need to be selective about replying. As for me, I reply when I feel like it and hope people understand when I don’t. I know people who wanted to disable their replies feature just because replying to replies was beginning to feel like a chore.
Q: What do you find to be the most gratifying aspect of blogging?
A: It is a convenient alternative to admiring yourself in the mirror. Also, youth and beauty has a limited shelf life but your wordpress typos will still be there when the aliens take over.
Q: How, in general, would you rate the quality of Indian blogs? Share your favourite five blogs and top five Twitter follows.
A: Have you visited Chinese blogs? You can’t understand a word. It’s like watching a Sarah Palin interview. Compared to that, Indian blogs are the second coming of Shakespeare.
- Neo Indian : Very funny. Need I say more?
- Previously One Long Rant and now Intriguing title line: This lady can write. And more importantly, sustain your interest for all 4 quarters.
- Overrated Outcast: This gentleman will rip everything and everyone a new one. If you’re an Indian politician / celebrity / person, get out of his way.
- A simple desultory Philippic : I am a fan of JAPsan’s writing style. I remember the first blogpost of his that I read on his old rediff blog. He was describing a hot summer afternoon and I had to turn on the air conditioner in mid-January.
- Acorn: I admire Nitin Pai’s fierce dedication towards what he does. Agree with him or disagree, this is probably the best Indian current affairs blog out there.
I also follow these folks on twitter.
Q: What is your advice to someone who wants to start a blog?
A: Don’t pander to the mainstream. If you are stumped, don’t force the issue. Try hard but don’t let it look like you’re trying too hard. Don’t use big words just for the sake of it. And finally, don’t shy away from swearing. But use obscenity as a tool to make a point, not as the point itself.
Q: Do you earn revenue through your blog? How does one go about it?
A: Nope, I don’t need to. I earn a comfortable living leaching off my wealthy in-laws.
And finally, some fun facts about C Gawker.
Color: stingray blue
Movie: A few good men, Napoleon Dynamite, Anchorman.
TV Show:It’s always sunny in Philadelphia.
Book: Rand McNally’s World Atlas.
Time of Day: 2:00 AM
Your Zodiac Sign: Virgo, the f***ing virgin.
There ends an another interview at our Adda, where the blogger shared his picture for the first time in the blogosphere. Thank you CGawker for sharing your picture. Readers!! We are sure you enjoyed this interview as much as we did. Do shoot in your questions and programming bugs if any and Gawker would be happy to answer. 🙂
Gawker on Twitter is lot more funny (compared to the blog), not to mention your bulb-lists. I tried hard to get into a bulb list but he has set high standards!! The interviewer should have asked the secret behind white beard and early aging signs on Twitter?
@digital_post