Rahul Roushan is from IIM-A and was an anchor with a popular news channel before he started FakingNews.com. For more fun and insights of  ‘Pagal Patrakar‘,  read on…

Q: When and why did you start blogging?

A: If you are talking about my personal blog, I created one in 2005, but it was more like a collection of articles that I wrote on various issues. I used to update it once in a few months, so I’m not sure if I could really call it ‘blogging’ per se. Regular blogging happened to me only through Faking News, which I started on 15^th September 2008.

When I created my first blog, I did it because I love writing and I nurse a dream of authoring a book someday. I hoped to hone my writing skills through blogging, but it didn’t work out as I was very irregular at writing new posts.

When I started Faking News, it was more out of my desire to write about current affairs (maybe due to my journalistic background). I could have started a serious journalistic blog as well, but I chose news-satire style as I had gained notoriety at my B-school for digging up weird news stories and posting them on the intranet. I thought maybe I had developed some skill to spot the oddity (how flattering of myself)! So I decided to mix the two – to create odd stories from the current events.

Q: What topics do you generally blog about?

A: Mostly current affairs, things that the mainstream media is talking about at that time. If not writing on a ‘newsy’ thing, I blog about our daily lives in our society, in our offices, on the campuses, on the television etc. anything that catches my fancy, with a satirical touch.

Q: Do you ever get stuck when writing an entry? What do you do then?

A: Most of the times I have a plot clear and ready in my mind, so I finish it without much difficulty, but yeah, there are occasion when I get stuck. I take a break in such cases to think through the topic and the plot. If I get stuck again, I dump the story! Call me unfaithful, but I have dumped more than a couple of them.

Q: ‘India TV bats for cows’ was probably your first post ever. Was ‘India TV’ the inspiration behind starting Faking news and sensational headlines? If not, what prompted you to start Faking News?

A: Haha, well, in a sense, yeah. Faking News surely was a reaction to the sensational headlines by the mainstream media. The About Us section at the original blog reads “It is also an attempt to be satirical about Indian news media, especially television news media, which has brought down journalism to ridiculous levels”, which was later toned down when I redesigned the site in August 2009.

Q: Faking News is India No. 1 Satirical site. How do you define Satire? When you compose a post, how do you differentiate between Satire and Sarcasm?

A: For me, Satire is an attempt to point out shortcomings or oddities in our society, ideally with a message and intent for betterment, in a non-hostile manner and without sounding overtly accusative or pontificating.

Sarcasm is an important part of satire, but a purely sarcastic write-up may not be satirical as well. Sarcasm bites, Satire tickles.

Q: As a mass communications graduate in broadcast journalism, what are the five headlines that the ‘Pagal Patrakar’ would like to see currently and why?

“XYZ news channel comes clean, declare themselves as Tabloid channel”

If the Entertainment genre for television could be broken down (for the purpose of business and analysis) into Movies, Reality, Music, etc., Sports genre into All-sports, Cricket, etc. and these channels were categorized along those lines, it’s high time that News genre was also broken down into Tabloid, News, Infotainment, etc. and the news channels were categorized accordingly, so that there was no unfair competition and comparison between players. Why should a serious news channel be taunted that its TRP was low by a tabloid channel? Let it be like comparing oranges and apples.

“Research proves that advertising on XYZ news channel had negative effect on consumer behaviour”

I sincerely believe that eye-balls (which translate into the TRP’s) are not all that matter in the world of advertising. What platforms are you advertising upon, also has an effect on the consumer behaviour. I wish management institutes came up with some recent and relevant research on this.

“Mass amnesia grips India. People forget what community they belonged to”

I hope it is self-explanatory why I want this headline.

“Bribery to be regularized. MPs and bureaucrats can officially take 10% success fee from corporates”

Let’s face it, politics and bureaucracy is not for social service and the expectation that our leaders and bureaucrats will serve the society selflessly has failed all of us. Let these guys serve themselves and get rich, but only after undertaking and implementing successful projects in their constituencies. Let them create jobs by bringing industries and let them officially pocket the money, which currently they anyway pocket after awarding tenders to bribe-givers; at least the tenders would be awarded to competent people if the process was transparent.

“Sachin Tendulkar scores a triple century in ODI”

Just like that

Q: Who are the most popular faces who have graced Faking News? Why according to you are their appearances so frequent?

A: Most of the newsmakers have made appearance on Faking News as well – from politicians, to actors, to Rakhi Sawant. They are very satire friendly souls. God keep them safe and happy.

Q: Two of your exclusive reports were mistaken to be true by the mainstream/web media and published. What was your reaction to that? Did they realise what they did and removed them? Do share with us any such really funny incidents.

A: First time when it happened (frustrated man uses Axe), I couldn’t believe it as I never considered that news report as one of my best articles. But it went crazily viral with local radio stations in the UAE, Australia and the USA talking about it! Even a reputed and respected news source like The Australian published it, but they later removed it when they realized it.

I was most amused when a journalist friend of mine, working in a reputed international news agency, called me to inform that his boss from London had asked him to file a report on this Axe lawsuit story! He laughed and told his boss that it was a work of fiction written by an Indian news satire website. It was crazy.

One of the mails that I got from a journalist working for some German news website, asked me if Unilever or some ad-agency had paid me to write this news, as Axe got free publicity worth millions of dollars thanks to the Faking News article! How I wish it was true! Alas, I don’t earn my livelihood through Faking News.

Many people still believe stories to be true and get hyper over the content!

Q: We are sure not many of our readers know that you are also the brains behind CricStock.com, which combined cricket and elements of stock trading. Stock Market and Cricket is such a unique combination. What went right and wrong for CricStock? It will be great if you can share some lessons/experiences from that for the startup community.

A: Well, the first thing that went wrong was the horrible performance of both Indian and Pakistani cricket teams in the world cup (CricStock was launched for the 2007 ODI cricket world cup and both Indian and Pakistani teams were kicked out in the first round itself). This meant that the interest in Cricket (and hence traffic to our site) nosedived in the country, until we won the T20 World Cup more than six months later.

In these six months, we (me and my business partner) had started management consultancy company to feed ourselves, while we wondered how to rejuvenate the site among a couple of other projects. Ultimately, we had to sell off the site.

In my personal opinion, the greatest mistake was lack of focus on one project and absence of a plan in case the worst or even the unimaginable happened (which happened as hardly anyone had imagined such a poor performance of India in the 2007 world cup; we were the favourites actually!).

Q: How was the experience as the anchor at Sahara Samay? Today, there are so many changes within the mainstream media. Do you think that sensationalism is what makes the channel run? Is the investigative and the Indian Express style reporting dead?

A: My days at journalism were really good. It was my first job and I enjoyed every bit of it as I got to learn in my early days. In fact, even now I feel like a journalist at heart. But things got boring and even depressing after a couple of years, and I surely missed the ‘mission’ of journalism (what you seemingly are referring as the Indian Express style reporting). I won’t blame any particular channel for it, not even India TV, as it’s a very complex issue. I had written a post on the same on my personal blog -

Q: ‘I enjoy treading the pathway called life, not necessarily heading towards a destination…’. Has Rahul Roushan found his destination as yet? What has been the most interesting experiences on this pathway?

A: I’m still treading, sometimes even meandering, and no sight of the destination yet! A lot of interesting experiences have come my way, good and bad, and I don’t think I can pin-point at any one of them. Growing up in Bihar, coming to Delhi for studying journalism, working as a journalist, studying at IIM Ahmedabad, having been of my own in the past few years and seeing ups and downs– all these have been quite interesting and have helped me grow as a person. The journey continues.

Q: What do you find to be the most gratifying aspect of blogging?

A: Reaching out to people, whom otherwise you might never had crossed paths with. Some six months back, I received a mail from Anand Ramachandran (of Son of Bosey fame and one of the earliest web-based satirists of India) where he had some words of appreciation and encouragement for me. I was really happy. Similarly, I feel so happy when people write to me or chat with me saying that my posts help them kill the tensions and boredom of office-life. I don’t lament that Unilever could have paid me for writing that Axe story when I receive such messages.

Q: Do you promote your blog? What promotional techniques work best for you and why?

A: I don’t have the money or I’d have asked IPL cheerleaders to wear Faking News t-shirts for promotion. In absence of that, I have to rely upon my readers to share the links on the web, and that’s what has worked the best for me. God bless Facebook and Twitter, and of course, the visitors to my blog.

Q: How important is it for the blogger to interact with their readers? Do you respond to all the comments that you receive?

A: It’s vital, almost necessary, for a blogger to interact with the readers and get the feedback, but responding to all the comments may not be the best approach or even feasible at times. I receive a bulk of comments and feedback on the Facebook page of Faking News which has around 14,000 members, and I can’t respond to each of them on every occasion, though I have responded a few times.

I have a chat widget on my website where I interact with the readers whenever I am online and free. Similarly, if someone mails me to share a thought, I respond to them. And I must admit that the interactions have helped me a lot; I have learnt new things thanks to a couple of unknown visitors who chatted with me.

Q: How, in general, would you rate the quality of Indian blogs? Share your favourite five blogs.

A: Honestly, I’m no one to rate the quality of Indian blogs; I’m a newbie as compared to many veterans who have carved out a name and niche for themselves. I follow many Indian blogs and they are absolutely fantastic. Five of my favourite blogs, in random order and the ones that are on the top of my mind right now, are:

• Anand Ramachandran – Son of Bosey
  (Latest Post - Political correctness activists want to replace the term ‘politically incorrect’ with ‘politically differently correct’. )
  
• Arnab Dey – GreatBong
  (Read his interview with us)
• Ramesh Srivats - Let’s Put Da
  (Latest Post – PUB – The Progressive Union of Bloggers)
  
• Sahil Rizwan – The Vigil Idiot
  (Latest post: Teen Patti)
  
• Saad Akhtar – Fly you Fools
  (Read his interview with us)
  

Q: What is your advice to someone who wants to start a blog?

A: If you really feel the urge for writing and sharing some thoughts, do it. Don’t do it if you think blogging (or some particular style of blogging) is cool, there are thousands of cooler stuffs to do. All the best.

Q: Do you earn revenue through your blog? How does one go about it?

A: As I had put earlier I don’t earn my livelihood through it, but I have put Google Ads on my blog and they give me enough returns to pay my webhosting, internet and mobile bills. There are other internet ad-agencies that promise you better pay-out than Google. One said that my traffic could translate into at least one lakh rupees per month, I tried them and found their claim like some political promise, and now I’m not willing to give another agency a second chance. Maybe I’m doing something wrong, but I couldn’t care. If money has to come, it will come, currently I’m enjoying writing.

Q: Let’s conclude off with a few favorites.

Color: Blue

Movie: I’m not a movie freak (and I rue it) but I like comedies, be it classic like Angoor, or unintentionally (?) funny like Gunda (I sincerely apologize to all Prabhuji fans if have hurt them, I didn’t mean it and blame the BlogAdda guys for misquoting me).

TV Show: South Park or India TV if you insist on Indian choices

Book: Raag Darbaari by Shrilal Shukla

Time of Day: When I’m sleeping, and it could be anytime

Your Zodiac Sign: Aquarius

For all the fans of Indian Faking News, hope you enjoyed knowing more about the ‘The Real Pagal Patrakar’, Rahul Roushan. Visit FakingNews.com for your humour dose of the day and if you want to ask Rahul anything, a comment will do the trick.

Related posts:

1. Interview with Ashok Banker – Part 2 of 2
2. Interview with Ashok Banker – Part 1 of 2
3. Interview with Brajeshwar Oinam of oCricket

Q: When and why did you start blogging?

A: I had been blogging since 2004, but like most blogs it wasn’t going anywhere and not getting many visitors. Eventually, I decided to close my previous blogs and focus on making a webcomic, which worked out quite well! Most blogs are rant fests anyway, and my comic maintains that tradition.

Q: What topics do you generally blog about?

A: Most of my comics are about the small (or big) irritations of life in India. Everything from half baked security checks outside malls, to credit card calls to moral policing and finally the best-hated institution of this country: TV Serials.

When I started the comic I was experimenting with different topics, and comics on petty whines won! So now I keep noting down such things and try to come up with a story.

Q: Do you ever get stuck when writing an entry? What do you do then?

A: Watch Japanese Porn. Haha, kidding, since you know watching porn degrades our culture etc. But anyway, getting stuck with ideas is not a big problem with me, because I have a long LONG list of ideas for future comics. The biggest problem is getting down to making a new comic.

Since I’m not doing this full time, I get very little time to make new comics. Maybe on weekends, maybe a few nights after work.

But sometimes there’ll be a flash, an idea, and I’ll make the comic in a few hours. It’s quite unpredictable. Earlier the regular readers used to complain, but now either they’re used to the irregularity, or they just don’t care (I’m hoping it’s the first one).

To overcome this problem: Maintain an idea list. Use tools like Evernote (or any other note taking app) on your phone to note down the idea as soon as you get it. There’s an urgency about this. You’ll forget the idea within seconds or minutes. Once it’s written down, you can expand on it later.

Q: Do you promote your blog? What promotional techniques work best for you and why?

A: Yes, I promote my comic. But through the social media. I experimented with paid Google ads, but the returns aren’t worth the cause (for my site). Social media is free, and it’s huge. People recommending my comics to their frands (yes frands) sells more than me selling it to them.

Having a social-networking-friendly site is important. Provide (big visible) buttons/links to share your blog on Facebook, Twitter, Orkut, Email. Pay attention to comments. Comment on other people’s blogs.

I also allow my comics to be embedded in other people’s blogs. I give a html code at the end of every comic to make it easier to paste the image/link. These things help bring a lot of traffic and new readers.

Also the site has to be search-engine friendly. Specially a webcomic where there is no text, only images. Pay attention to tags, put your comic’s dialogues in alt text fields. Get a SEO plugin if you’re hosting on Wordpress. These things also help.

One third of my site’s traffic comes from Google searches (and some really risqué keywords, I might add). One third comes from direct links and the rest comes from Twitter.

Promotion on Twitter has worked out best for me.

Q: How important is it for the blogger to interact with their readers? Do you respond to all the comments that you receive?

A: Obviously it’s very important. If you are a beginner then you can respond to every comment. In fact, you MUST. Eventually there will be a point where it’s just impossible to do that. But at least take feedback from your readers. Observe which post is popular, and why.

Twitter is a great medium to interact with your readers. People don’t comment that often, but they’ll let you know their views on Twitter. Also link your Twitter profile to your blog so your readers can follow you.

Another important point are the hate comments. They’ll come eventually. This is the Internet after all. Hate comments are like the foundations of the social networking world. Those and frandship requests. Both are inevitable. The important part is to take them in your stride. The Internet’s anonymity and audience brings out the animal in people. Let it be.

Q: The name of your first blog ‘The China Diaries’ was about your experience in China with a lot of photographs. Can you share some of your interesting adventures in China with our readers alongwith some photographs?

A: Ah! Where did you dig that up from? I had taken it out of circulation. I was working in Microsoft Research for 6 months in Beijing and didn’t have too many people to talk to. Eventually my friends got sick of my daily mails with mundane details of my life, and they asked me to start a blog. This was a good strategy, because now they could ignore me. But it got me started on blogging.

Adventures… Well most adventures in China begin with “You wouldn’t believe it, but I ate a…..” and end with “… and the next morning I woke up in a pool of my own filth, next to a…”.

I have had my own share, and they’re not share-worthy.

Q: Let’s move over to your next blog ‘Non Creative Fiction’. It started with photographs from saddi Dilli and slowly moved over to Webcomics. Why the transition to Webcomics? Did any incident or person inspire you?

A: Yes. The 2nd blog never got off the ground much, but transitioned into Fly You Fools somehow. I had a bunch of strange/quirky/funny photos and I started using text captions on photos along with blog text. That was fun, so eventually I killed it, and started a webcomic full time.

If I had to nail down one photo/incident that triggered this, it would be the Toe Nail Guy. If you’re a regular reader of my comic then you’ll know the Toe Nail Guy.

There’s a long post detailing the history of the Toe Nail Guy on my comic’s blog.

Q: You are an Interaction designer which is not very common. Can you tell us more details about Interaction design? Were Webcomics a natural extension to what you were doing as a Interaction designer?

A: Interaction Designers work with any digital medium that requires human-machine interaction and create user experiences. This is a fancy way of saying we make websites look good, and work well. Obviously, it could be mobile interfaces, your TV menu, your car, or the space shuttle. But who are we kidding…

Q: #chetanblocks is one hashtag you will never forget in your life. Did you ever in your wildest dreams imagine that it’ll grow up so big and with so much media coverage? What were the positives and the negatives for you from the incident?

A: Oh yes, the obligatory #chetanblocks question! Well, no obviously I didn’t expect it to get popular. It was a huge misunderstanding to begin with. I gave him the popular “All you base are belong to us” internet-meme-line, and he didn’t get it. He thought I’m promoting piracy etc etc and anyway, Twitter took care of the rest.

Then as usual, the media realized something more interesting than lost cats is happening on Twitter, and since anything on Twitter is newsworthy now, they did their bit of reporting.

Fact is, stuff like this happens daily on Twitter. Just because a celebrity was involved, they went nuts.

Q: You are married to your college mate, Archana who is also a new media designer. We would love to have a exclusive comic from your stable on how you fell in love and eventually getting married. Can you?

A: One of our marriage vows was never to do a comic on her. (Ed.: Saad, we will accept this!)

Q: We know that Saad is a very reserved person and let the comics do the talking. Which is one comic of yours you think got the maximum publicity either for good/bad reasons?

A: The comic on the Slow Internet Speeds in India! That was something that most people could relate to. Everyone poured their heart out. Some were sympathizing. Some (EVIL PEOPLE) were gloating on their fast connections. Damn you!!

Q: You have been voted by Mid Day as the Indian Twitterer of the year ahead of Shashi Tharoor and many more. What do you have to say about using twitter as a medium for building communities? What kind of trends do you see in the coming years created by the Indian Twitter users?

A: Twitter is great! I don’t know about much of a community builder it is, because the community features didn’t really work out (Lists etc). But it’s great for connecting with other people.

And hashtags really bring people together on a mission. I think in the future brands/companies will be paying more attention to twitter as a feedback platform and complaints inbox. E.g. Recently a café chain was being twitter-flogged because a manager at one outlet was (allegedly) asking for a cover charge. They got on Twitter and cleared the controversy, and apologized. This, I think will increase.

Q: What do you find to be the most gratifying aspect of blogging?

A: The fact that no matter what you’re into, there are similar people out there. And they can find you, and you can find them. This is more of an internet phenomenon, not just restricted to blogs/twitter.

Q: How, in general, would you rate the quality of Indian blogs? Share your favourite five blogs.

A: I think Indian blogs are at a good point right now. Contrary to what Vir Sanghvi says, there is no Indian Blogging Elite. Most blogs don’t take themselves too seriously, which is a good thing. Lot of healthy personal opinion, a good mix of general/targeted topics. Great humour, good mix of politics… It’s great!

A few blogs/comics I like are:

• The Vigil Idiot – For saving money by showing the movie review comics to my wife and saying “See, we don’t need to watch this movie anymore”.
  (Latest post: Teen Patti)
• Brainstuck – A new comic every few days!?!? That’s not a stuck brain, that’s brain on lube.
  (Latest post: Filter)
• The Secret Journal of Rakesh Jhunjhunwala – Because he’s so awesome, and he invented Twitter. But I prefer his Twitter avatar to his blog.
  (Latest post: INDIA’S Top 10 Greatest Assholes : An India Today Exclusive)
• The Oatmeal – Incredible comics/stuff. And this guy got popular real quick. Has a book coming up… an inspiration to us poor webcomic makers.
  (Latest post: Free Hugs)
• Desipundit – So I don’t have to trawl the whole Indian blogosphere.
  (Latest post: Fallacy of Using Identity as an Ideological Label)

Q: What is your advice to someone who wants to start a blog?

A: Just go ahead and start. No one pays attention to the early posts anyway… keep blogging and eventually they’ll come. Google ensures this. Network with other bloggers, leave comments, help around. Build up your network on Twitter, then use it to bring in traffic.

But before you go out publicizing your blog/comic make sure you have 30 mins worth of content. If it’s just 2 posts, they wont return. Also make it sharing/subscribing friendly.

Q: Do you earn revenue through your blog? How does one go about it?

A: I have Google ads on the site, but they’re mainly decoration. If ads are going to be your primary revenue source, then you need lots of traffic. Or if your site is domain specific (photography, health, movies) and you have substantial readership, then you can approach that domain’s brands directly for advertising. But first you need traffic. For that you need popular content.

First get those two, money will follow. (This is what I keep telling myself). Maybe in two years, google will send a check and you can buy a new shirt with it.

Q: Let’s conclude off with a few favorites.

Color: #ffffff

Movie: The Big Lebowski

TV Show: HBO’s Rome

Book: Guns, Germs and Steel

Time of Day: Hammer Time.

Your Zodiac Sign: Woah, really?

Thanks a lot for such a wonderful interview Saad! It was a pleasure interviewing you and getting to know a lot of things, especially your adventures in China and one of your marriage vows too . Readers here is your chance to ask Saad anything and everything about Indian Webcomics.

Connect with Saad: Blog, BlogAdda, Twitter, Facebook.

Related posts:

1. Interview with Krish Ashok of Doing Jalsa and showing Jilpa
2. Interview with Navin Kabra of PuneTech Part 1
3. Interview with Nikhil Pahwa of Medianama

Q: When and why did you start blogging?

A: I started blogging in August 2004. I had just graduated from Stony Brook and had moved away from where I had been for the last five years to another cold city, leaving behind the conversations I used to have with fellow graduate students over beer and chicken wings, conversations that continued into the wee hours of the morning, immensely politically incorrect discussions where voices were raised and language used that would make a Lyangda Tyagi blush. Missing that invigorating company, I started a blog to dump my brain since I had no one to share it with.

I started “personal” blogging – essentially what I ate and what I am doing. Soon I realized my life was so boring that even I didn’t want to read about it. So I shifted to issues and movies, replicating in cyberspace the free-wheeling conversations of my graduate life. Except I was the only one talking. Which now that I thought of it was exactly how our “discussions” sometimes went. That is me talking and others counting down till I stopped.

Q: What topics do you generally blog about?

A: Anything that catches my fancy. B-grade Bollywood, Cricket, Politics, Wall Street meltdown explained using characters from “Gunda” (an iconic Bollywood B movie), reminiscences of growing up in Kolkata. Random Thoughts of a Demented Mind. Describes it perfectly.

Q: Do you ever get stuck when writing an entry? What do you do then?

A: I usually have my thoughts organized before I start writing a blog. I arrange most of it while I am driving home from work or listening to my wife speak (which explains why I never hear of much of what she says). But if I do get stuck sometimes, watching the first fifteen minutes of Gunda always clears the cobwebs from my mind.

Q: Do you promote your blog? What promotional techniques work best for you and why?

A: I usually find getting kissed by brother-of-famous-Bhangra-pop-singer in front of cameras works the best for promotion. Or saying “I was stopped at the airport because my name is Bong.”

Q: How important is it for the blogger to interact with their readers? Do you respond to all the comments that you receive?

A: Possibly the most important thing to do. A blog is best when it is a conversation. I used to reply to all comments at one point of time. But now with my job responsibilities increasing, I am a little shorter of time than I used to be. Which is why I selectively respond to comments. Nothing personal against my commenters. No disrespect intended. I really wish I could reply to each and every one of you as I used to.

Q: Let us start with ‘May I Hebb Your Attention Pliss’. which you describe it as ‘It wuz da best of tyms, it wuz da wrst of tyms’. What inspired you to come up with this book? Was the success of your blog a factor?

A: Actually that line is used to describe the 90s – it is a SMS-ization of the famous line from “A Tale of Two Cities”. The inspiration was to spread my brand of writing to people, and there are many of them, who love to curl up in their beds and read books and couldn’t be bothered to get textual enjoyment from the screen i.e from the world of blogs. Yes, I presume the blog was the principal reason why my publisher was willing to go with a first-timer like me.

Q: August 20, 2004 – ‘Yeh din kabhi nahin bhulogey ’. This was the day you started blogging. Did you have an idea that you will blog for such a long time and will become a ‘great’ bong? Now, that you are a well known blogger, what are you planning next?

A: No I had no idea. For a year, no one but my family and a few friends read my blog and that too because I would email them “Did you read my blogpost?” and follow it up with “Did you really read my blogpost?” and then with a “I wrote another blogpost to follow up the last blogpost you didnt read”.

Everyone has a level after which they get ashamed. For my friends, that level is pretty high. Now that people read my blog, my plans are to write a number of books. One after another.

Q: Arnab Ray is known to make bollywood film lines famous! Haven’t you received an offer to start writing film dialogues? Do you actually watch all the C grade Bollywood films? It would be great to know your favourites for the best film, the best actor and the best actress both for bollywood and hollywood.

A: I actually received an offer to make a movie out from one of my blogposts. That never worked out though. My Hindi isn’t that good that I can write dialogues on my own. Yes, I actually watch and buy C grade Bollywood films. My favorite Hindi film, actor and actress are in order – Gunda, Mithunda and [any lady who acts opposite Mithunda].

As to Hollywood, the corresponding spots would be Universal Soldier, Chuck Norris and Steven Seagal. Yes I know. Steven Seagal sometimes has a ponytail and sounds like “See Gal” . Hence I put him in the actress slot.

Q: According to you, ‘Indian Television’s Finest Hour’ was Rakhi’s swayamvar . Now we have Rahul Mahajan’s as well. What is your take on the current state of Indian Television and your predictions for the future?

A: Indian Television is at an exciting stage in its evolution. I am looking for India’s first televised murder and/or amputation (preferably done without anesthetic) to make its way onto the airwaves in a few years since every few months, we have programs raising the shock threshold of the viewers.

Q: Let’s talk about IPL now. You are among the biggest cricket fans of India. How do you think has IPL changed the face of cricket? Who is your favorite for this season and why?

A: IPL has finally removed the hypocrisy of the whole gentleman’s game thing and shown cricket for what it is – paisa phenk tamasha dekh. My favorite as always will the Riders because they crystallize the spirit of IPL namely that it doesn’t matter if you don’t win as long as you entertain, even if that entails tripping on your shoelaces.

Q: Fake IPL player was the spice of the last IPL season. Not even the media knows who he/she is but Arnab managed to pull a coup and interview him. How in the world did you manage to do that? Do you know him? Is he actually an IPL player?

A: No credit to mine. Debashish, who runs the Indibloggies awards, arranged it and I just sent him the questions and set it up as a post. I do not know his real name. And no he is not an actual IPL player but someone who claims to be an “insider”.

Q: Readers, Do you know that Arnab is also a Ph.D in Computer science and we should add Ph.D in humour as well. How do they go together? How important is humour in a day to day stressful life? Share with us a situation where your humour has saved your day.

A: It is impossible to get through the life of a Ph.D student without having the ability to laugh at yourself.  After all, your advisor and committee and the people who review your papers laugh at you. So why should you not join in? The moment you lose your sense of humor everything becomes a calamity. In life – Ph.D or not, I really cannot recall my humor having saved any day of my life. All I can say is that any day without humor isn’t worth saving.

Q: What do you find to be the most gratifying aspect of blogging?

A: Making friends with like-minded people from all over the world. When somebody says that a blogpost of mine made him/her laugh or think or even pause for a while, it makes my day.

Q: How, in general, would you rate the quality of Indian blogs? Share your favourite five blogs.

A: Very vibrant with a wide spread in quality (thats only natural). It is difficult to choose favorites as there are so many I love. But here goes, in no particular order.

• Sidin Vadukut: Finds humor in places one wouldn’t usually think of looking
  (Latest Post: The book is nigh. Dork cometh. Full updates.)
• Ramesh Srivats: Puntastical.
  (Latest Post: PUB – The Progressive Union of Bloggers)
• Diptakirti: As my senior in Jadavpur University, he once wrote an article in our college magazine and I remember telling myself  “Wow I wish I could write like that”. Many years hence, when I read his blog, I still feel the same way.
  (Latest Post: Sach)
• National Interest: A group blog which is the definitive place for serious opinions and commentary about Indian politics and policy.
  (Latest Post: The origin of agriculture)
• Jaiarjun Singh One of the first blogs I started reading. Has a very distinctive style of writing that I really appreciate.
  (Latest Post: Morose humour; notes on an opening chapter)

Q: What is your advice to someone who wants to start a blog?

A: Just be yourself. Don’t write on topics you think are “fashionable” or “get traffic”. Write things that move you and you will set the fashion and you will define the traffic. Trust me on this one.

Q: Do you earn revenue through your blog? How does one go about it?

A: “Bada Ana De Char Ana De..O Aii Aii Kabse Khada” - describes beautifully the amount of revenue I earn through my blog. India-themed blogs normally wont make money- that’s just the way the model works.

Q: Let’s conclude off with a few favorites.

Color: Yellow.  And no that does not make a dirty fellow.

Movie: Difficult to say one single. But if God gave me three hours to live and one movie to watch, I would ask him for four more hours and two more movies. If he agrees, I would watch the Apu Trilogy. After that I don’t care whether I go to heaven or not. Because I have already been there.

TV Show: A tie between Yes Minister, Star Trek Original Series and X Files

Book: Mahabharata. The greatest story ever told. Ever.

Time of Day: Just before falling asleep.

Your Zodiac Sign: Capricorn. That’s my Rashee …

Thank you Arnab for this wonderful interview and we wish you all the best for your book. Readers, After reading this interview rush to your nearest bookstore or order online, Arnab’s latest book ‘May I Hebb Your Attention Pliss‘.

Connect with Arnab: Blog, BlogAdda, Twitter

Related posts:

1. Interview with Shobhaa De
2. Interview with Kunal Sheth
3. Interview with Neil Patel

Q: We are sure our readers would love to know more about Suranga’s professional and personal career. Can you share with us more about it?

A: Schooled in Pune, (of which I am an unabashed supporter, and call myself a Puneite), am a science graduate with a Masters in Physics from University of California at Irvine. Back in the days (1970’s)  when IT was not IT but plain Data Processing and you lugged punched cards around, I worked for, what is today’s leading  IT company. A shift to an academic institution post marriage, a job in a technical field at the Department of Computer Science, and a graceful voluntary retirement 25 years later for some very important family reasons.

A lot of folks, including some doctors think I am someone who missed out on a medical career. Some others think the legal profession was saved when I turned to Physics. My parents wanted me to join the civil services, but I was saved in the nick of time by the IT job. With my proclivity to write and limerick and draw stuff about ministers, things would have been rather tough, I think.

And my daughter thinks I should desperately get a makeover.

Q: Recently, one of the posts which you tipped us talked about the price of soul and concluded that most of them are on sale. What is the reason behind this? Is it because of our declining values and the respect for elders?

A:  With everything in life, particularly money, we can associate two things: quality and quantity. In my childhood, it was stressed that the quality of money, eg. what you did to earn it, was important. Its denomination was not necessarily the value.

There is an old set of schools is Pune, named after the teacher who founded them, who is no more. I used to hear my folks talk about this simple, dedicated person with great respect.

Sometime in my teens, some well known industrialist family made a donation as a result of which they simply renamed the school, by the name it is known today. Quantity won.

You extrapolate this attitude to the current time and you can see why we have developed into people who set great store by “quantity”, who have a price. For everything. There is a price to succeed, there is a price to cheat; there is even a price when you do someone’s last rites. (Maybe I’ll blog about that some day).

Disregarding what has been taught by elders, no time to listen, and looking for quick results regardless of “how”, has brought us to this day. We have lost out on quality.

Q: You have spent close to 25 years at IIT, one of the premier institutions in India. The movie 3 idiots and the book 5 point someone raises a lot of questions on the method of education at the Institutions. What are your views on this? What do you think are our strengths and where are we lagging behind?

A: There are 2 issues here.  (a) The movie, the book, what it says, and implies about IIT.  (b)  The actual IIT education system.

I have not seen the movie. Neither am I in a hurry to rectify that. I have read the book. It’s ok.  You must realize that the book succeeded because it was published around the time IIT had become a brand. Hence the excessive brouhaha. And concentrating on the activities and adventures of 3-4 fellows, is certainly not a statement of  about how IIT is.

IIT’s are more than 50 years old. The method of education at IIT, is excellently organized, with a lot of faculty student interaction; and because introduction of new disciplines here, is easier here than say, in a huge University system with statewide affiliated colleges.  It certainly facilitates introduction of width and depth and variety in the subjects that are taught. The faculty is very highly qualified and widely respected. For a responsible student, who respects knowledge, does hard work and expects nothing readymade, there is no better place to learn.

The earlier (70’s) students were not “packaged” for IIT. They were more balanced.

Unlike today’s students, who start in Class 9 with stars in their eyes, and tickets to Kota, Rajasthan, where they immerse themselves in a one-track-coaching-training. Gives them a JEE rank, but doesn’t widen their minds. They come to an IIT, where perhaps everyone in their class has been a first ranker, and they are so rank-enabled, it is difficult for them to understand that someone has to come last. The mentally strong manage. Some don’t.

IIT education is a serious thing. You need to put in hard work.  There are plenty of opportunities and facilities for recreation, if you only looked around. Hostel living matures you in a different way (Ask me, I lived in one in Pune, as an undergraduate, age 15 onwards).

Having said this, I think it’s foolish to base your opinion of the IIT educational system on a book and a movie.

Q: India has a lot of beautiful places which are yet undiscovered. You would have travelled to few of those. Which is your favorite place and why? What is the best thing you like about India?

A:  I have travelled and lived in  Bihar, Maharashtra Interiors and Goa (soon after liberation) as a child (my father had postings there). Later on as an adult, one has enjoyed Kashmir, KuluManali, Kolkata, Darjeeling, Nepal, Pokhara, Orissa (Konarak, Puri). Several road trips along coastal Maharashtra. Come to think of it, one has also enjoyed the south, beaches, hills and all. (Kodai, Ooty, Kovalam, Kanya Kumari, Pondicherry, Chennai) and very recently the Andaman Islands.

I cannot say what the favorite is. The physical beauty and grandeur is surely there, but  one remembers the local people one meets. The traditions and food. And what makes India so great is its immense diversity. The lack of boring standardization. There is always something new to learn. (I need to stop before I start sounding like Incredible India).

(For example, in 1977, on a road trip down the Malabar Coast and up the Coromandel Coast, we passed through a small Kerala town (Ottopalam) where we stopped at a weekly bazaar, where they were selling, besides special palm-made-hands-free-rice-transplanting-umbrella-cum-hats, a variety of huge lizards. We bought the former and only glared at the latter. Turns out they were used medicinally and highly prized.)

Q: Marathi Movies are making a mark in the world cinema. Movies like Harishchandracha Factory and Natarang are impressive. The movies, they say, is the mirror of what happens in the society. Is there a sudden love of rural lifestyles by the people who stay in cities?

A: Theatre, Marathi literature, and performing arts in Maharashtra go back a long long way. Knowing natyasangeet has always been considered a plus. Going for Marathi plays was, and still is a highly approved thing in middle class society. See the ad pages of Loksatta.

And Marathi films have not always been with a Rural emphasis. That is just one aspect. We’ve had Marathi classic films since a long time with some very acclaimed performers.

A lot of the current Marathi filmmakers and actors have evolved from Marathi theatre. What has helped, is people getting experienced and qualified in the technical aspects and the ability to get funding for films. A lot of folks from Marathi films work in Hindi films. Amazingly women figure very prominently amongst Marathi film makers and directors, which is a reflection of the openness of the society in question.

I don’t think rural lifestyles have anything to do with it. It really has to do with developing a broadness of mind that allows you to realize that art has many forms. And different forms thrive in different conditions. And today, that broadening is there. Natarang isn’t just about the rural Lavni dance culture. It is about a person, the hero, striving to work towards his goal, within so many weird boundary conditions. How he falls, gets up again. Goes on to succeed. Happens to all of us. He just happened to dance as a Nachya.

Q: Pune, one of the peaceful cities of India was subjected to a terror attack. You love to call yourself a Punekar, As a person with immense experience, what message would you like to give to people who carry out such terror activities?

A: Today, no cities are safe. This could have happened anywhere. Having said this, one notices an abject lack of tolerance everywhere in daily life. In Mumbai, all the time, and now in Pune too. Particularly on the road, from rule breakers and wrong doers. (Just had a bad experience 2 days ago). Education has nothing to do with it. Might is supposed to be right. Everyone looks for quick money and fast solutions. And to hell with the means. Maybe that’s how terrorists happen.

No religion advocates what the terrorists do. They are being used by other people for their own purposes. And if our citizens are doing this, then somewhere, as a government and as a people, we have failed, and must reassign our priorities for the nation.  

Q: ‘What should one infer from your Gravatar/Display picture, a woman with belan in her hand flying a broom?’ asked by Solilo.

A: A multitasking, down-to-earth, cheerful woman, with big teeth, who enjoys  flights of imagination (even if they are on the broom), always remembering that there are meals to be cooked, things to be cleaned, vegetables to be bought, whistles to be blown, spitters to be filmed, bills to be paid, jokes to be enjoyed, songs to be sung, and yes, of course, blogs to be typed, and questions answered… did you think I was Aishwarya  Rai B.  flying First Class to London?

Q: Do you think blogging can bridge the so called generation gap as there is an instant connect with readers of all ages? Do you remember of any particular instance where you have been able to achieve this?

A: Most of the time. Regardless of age, the two people must subscribe to a a certain ethos in living. You can glean a person’s personality from the way they write, the way they react, the way they express opinions on their blogs and when they comment on yours. There is a young blogger in her late twenties, who was getting married to someone in a different community. In Maharashtrian customs, you need to say the husband’s first name in a rhyming couplet at various points in the marriage ceremony.  I blogged about this custom once, and  she almost kind of rushed and thudded on to the post asking if I would send her some of these Ukhanas, In English. Of course, this was right up my alley and she later contacted me with personal details so I could incorporate them as fun parts of the Ukhanas.

That this young woman later on met us all in a blogger lunch is history, and surprise surprise, she was exactly as I thought she would be. I’ve been called mavshi, kaku, even aji on the blog. What more connections do you need? Being referred to in the second person singular by young blog friends is an absolute honour.

Q: You have seen Mumbai grow from the 70’s to the present. Would love to have your observations on the various changes in Mumbai in various decades.

A: In December 1969, when I went to get my US student visa, I drove up to the consulate, had a choice of parking, the visa office had only one person ahead of me and it wasn’t 6 am, but more like 11 am.

In 1973, a trip from the city to the suburbs  still felt like a picnic with large tracts of virgin marshy land near the sea, and north on Bandra, you could smell sea breezes in the train.

By mid and late seventies the smells of Mumbai started changing for the worse, and train travel between Bandra and Mahim could always be identified by the rotting smells.

The eighties and nineties  saw an uncontrolled migration that changed the face of Mumbai, from a city that had grace, to a city that smelled of nothing but land and money. Today it is difficult to know what good and bad really means. Priorities of the Mumbai citizen, materially, have changed. The downtown city feels like an old dowager, scrupulously living her own imaginary life, minding her P’s and Q’s, while suburbs have developed like a teenager running wild.

Between the middle nineties and now things have changed really fast. For a certain section of the population, the huge gradient of the increase in population, vehicles, construction, cost of living, schools, colleges etc has made competition necessary in all spheres of life. In the mad rush to acquire all the trimmings and reach the target,  we’ve ended up keeping our minds on “automatic”. And mental health has suffered.

Despite all this Mumbai grows on you. It makes you resilient. You also start being eternally hopeful. It seems to be like an infinite sink that will accept anything that falls into it. Floods, deluges, bombs, terrorists, nothing deters. You also learn to get cynical about corrupt governance, false assurances, terrible roads, traffic and the police. You observe the “Mall attack”, and sometimes, while walking through the air conditioned environs, still hanker after the old days, where you went to different parts of Mumbai for buying different things.

In all this, it still remains a city where women are  treated reasonably well, and I feel safe here  as a woman.  The common man in Mumbai, regardless of his economic status, is still an altruistic fellow. And there is an abiding spirit here that says I may have 4 walls, but I will share one with you in times of trouble. The BEST buses are still an outstanding option in Mumbai and sometimes I think the drivers need to be awarded; lugging those huge buses through small roads, random traffic and polluted air, several times a day, carrying the heart and soul of Mumbai. The city still has scores of dedicated people who work selflessly for causes of women, children, and the disabled.

Only one thing. Don’t get me started on the roads…

Q: How, in general, would you rate the quality of Indian blogs? Share your favourite five blogs.

A: I often wonder about the adjective “Indian” where blogs are concerned. I see lots of blogs written by Indian women abroad which I would never recognize as Indian, from the writing. I have also seen blogs by non-Indian women, with an amazingly Indian attitude.

So a blog is a blog,  I am surely not an authority to comment on “Indian” blogs,  but if you have a look at the nominated blogs in a recent yearly selection by a blog aggregator, the variety and the writing ability, the design, and presentation is mind boggling. There are also some  very amazing blogs being done in Marathi, which I read.  I am sure the other Indian languages are duly richly represented.

I think we in India are richer for being able to blog in so many different languages, and read them, again in so many languages.

My 5 favourite blogs

• Kavi’s Musings:  This guy  moves around and notices all kinds of mundane things, which actually speak to him.  Reading his blog always makes me smile and remember something early on in life.  He champions the life and times of the ordinary, with a great sense of humor and gratitude, and you always look at things differently after you are done with his post. His posts have also inspired me to comment in verse…(Latest Post: Leveler)
• Of Cabbages and Kings: Half a generation (Go figure that), younger to me, when I read Manju’s blog, I always get a feeling of a bunch of friends sitting around enjoying a nice afternoon, and one of them tapping you on the shoulder, turning to you, and saying, “Did you know ….?”. For some reason, the way she writes, it exudes a sense of great logic and calmness. I enjoy reading her take on current events, literature, and her personal experiences from social work which she is involved in. As well as her knowledge of Sanskrit and her urge to popularize Subhashitas, which she does in a separate blog. (Latest Post: The Fearless Lion Cubs)
• Ageslessbonding: She belongs to my generation, and I greatly enjoy reading her posts, particularly when I end up nodding and thinking that, that was probably what I would have thought and done. She writes on a wide variety of subjects, and habits of society and how things change. Her writing style is very pleasing, and she gets cheesed off about the same things that cheese me off…. I look forward to her posts. (Latest Post: 7 things you didn’t need to know about me…)
• A  Cricketing View:  He writes a scholarly, studied  and well researched cricket blog.  There is no blind support of any particular team. He comments on the game. He has developed his own ratings system for the various teams that play Test Cricket, and taken courses at his University, in statistics (nothing to do with his own doctoral subject) to fine tune his ratings system.  Sometimes I feel he is a bit tough on people in our team,  but this is the opinion of someone who believes that folks like Sachin Tendulkar can do no wrong.  The comments of equally cricket-mad folks on his blogposts are illuminating to read.  He also happens to be my son. :)
  (Latest Post: ODI Cricket Conquered by Tendulkar)
• Wheelchair Kamikaze: This is an amazing blog written by a 46 year old  man, who was diagnosed with Multiple Sclerosis since 2003. He lives in NY City, and being from a creative field had a camera fitted to his wheelchair, so he could take pictures from a different perspective. He writes about his life, attitudes, the physical problems experienced, all this in a spell binding way. (Latest Post: A Little Housekeeping)

I know some folks afflicted with this and some are family. The strength of mind that these folks have always hugely impresses me, and I read this particular blog in an effort to learn how one deals with difficult things in life and never lose that smile.

Q: What is your advice to someone who wants to start a blog?

A: What are you waiting for? Welcome!  Read lots of blogs, comment, discuss.  The best way to do this is emulate how we learned swimming in our childhood. They just threw us into the water…..

So throw yourself in, you will learn the art of staying afloat. A little extra practice, and you will enjoy splashing all over the place….

Q: Let’s conclude off with a few favorites.

Color: Keeps changing. Currently, blue.

Movie: Natrang (Marathi), TZP (Hindi)

TV Show: Sa Re Ga Ma Pa Little Champs (Marathi)

Book: “How we die”  by  Dr Sherwin Nuland. (Also “How we live”, by him)

Time of Day: sometimes  dawn, sometimes post-midnight.

Your Zodiac Sign: Capricorn

Readers! We are sure after reading both the parts of the Interview (Read Part 1 of her interview), you would have been awestruck by Mrs Suranga’s knowledge on varied subjects. Don’t you think it is high time you follow her blog and go through her archives to catch up on what all you have missed. Do give us your valuable feedback on what you like and don’t like about the interviews over here as we want to serve the best to you.

Related posts:

1. Interview with Suranga Date aka Ugich Konitari
2. Interview With Malini Agarwal
3. Interview with Kunal Sheth

She is fondly known as Ugich Konitari (means ’someone just like that’) and blogs at Gappa. She manages multiple blogs and is a contributor to Limerickwala as well. Let us welcome Mrs. Suranga Date, 60 years of age, one of India’s senior most and respected blogger to our Adda for this very inspirational interview. For the first time, she reveals her photo in an exclusive with BlogAdda. The stocks of Balaji Telefilms would crash once this interview goes live as people will start blogging taking cue from Mrs. Suranga. Here is Mrs. Suranga Date unplugged for you.

Update: Part 2 now live!

Q: When and why did you start blogging?

I started blogging in May 2006. Prior to that, blogs were never my scene. I was conversant with making webpages, and in general  IT-fied, if one may say that.

There were many reasons for starting.  My son had just started a Cricket blog, and  that was really my introduction. He was on blogger, so I got on to blogger. Didn’t even know there were other platforms.  Add to this the fact that I had “voluntarily retired from service” (as they say), and after the initial euphoria, had settled down to a life where there was a bit more free time than before. What of course helped, was that right from childhood, I have enjoyed writing, both prose and verse, thanks to a huge amount of encouragement from my parents.

The additional thrill factor here was that you could write what you wanted, folks would read, enjoy, tell you off, praise, whatever;  there wasn’t anyone sitting behind a desk, twiddling a red pencil, and handing sheets back to you, and saying “Sorry”.

You just wrote, enjoyed, and basically got on with life.

Q: What topics do you generally blog about?

Difficult question. Many times, it is about my childhood memories, seen in a new light as a senior.  Sometimes it is about everyday personalities that I encounter in my daily life. So many that one takes for granted. Occasionally, it is about people who I admire for the way they deal with problems in their life. Many times it has been about children and how they think.

Medical science and research is of great interest to me. I am interested in life stages, fascinated by the brain and the human body. It interests me to learn how the brain makes decisions, and how intelligence of certain kinds can be encouraged in children, sometimes  considered incapable. Sometimes,  I need to blog about it because it delights me so much. Sometimes I am cynical about some research. That makes me blog too.

Occasionally, I get really angry about something and do a sarcastic blog.  Like on the monkeygate-cricket  thing in Sydney, Slumdog, our ministers, etc.

So you see, I don’t really know where to slot myself. Probably a Dadi of all trades, Dada  of none.

Q: Do you ever get stuck when writing an entry? What do you do then?

A:  See, there is no schedule for blogging. So it’s not like I sit there and nothing happens.

Most of the time, I can’t wait to blog about something, and the thought  speed always, but always, threatens to drown the speed of my two fingers on the keyboard. Now that you ask, I must say, that I have never really got stuck.

But, should I ever suffer from a bloggers block, I will probably go make myself a nice cup of coffee, make something special for a meal,  call a friend to chat, do some housework, or even sleep. (Just realized I don’t need a bloggers block-I do this all the time !)

Q: Do you promote your blog? What promotional techniques work best for you and why?

A:  I am not in the commercial domain. So I don’t earn anything. (Someone once encouraged me to do Google Adsense, and after a few days, I must have messed up something, because the Google types cancelled my account)…

I love to read other blogs and comment whenever I have something to say. I sometimes participate in  things where you (or someone else)  nominate your blog or post for something like an award. In such situations, you get to read and enjoy  many new blogs.

It’s become a standing joke when I email all my friends to vote for me for something, and they all do so and hear nothing later on.  (It doesn’t cost and I never lose my deposit, unlike several people we know, who cause excessive noise and lies pollution once in 5 years). Once in a while one has tasted success. But overall you end up meeting many new bloggers and make many new friends.

Lately, someone has been extolling Twitter.  I must have made 1 post till now (for votes). I have no idea how this thing is supposed to work, why someone would be interesting in pearls of wisdom thrown out in fractured English, why there must be continuous updates. Sometimes, I see people coming to my blogsite from Twitter. I have yet to figure out how they do.

Q: How important is it for the blogger to interact with their readers? Do you respond to all the comments that you receive?

A: The interaction with those who write comments,  is the fun part of blogging. I always answer the comments, mostly individually, but occasionally en masse, depending on the nature and tenor. I greatly value that someone actually takes the trouble to read and comment on my post. I am simply overcome by the fact that out there, there are so many folks who regularly read what I write!

The comments are usually nice, and constructively complementary, but occasionally there have been amazingly abusive comment, like when I did a post on cigarette smoking; the guy just went angrily ballistic, and came back the next day and wrote another angry abusive comment. I have left both the comments there.

Q: What do you find to be the most gratifying aspect of blogging?

A: Very clearly, the huge amount of friends I have made there.  I have friends ranging in age from 25 to 84, across the world.  They communicate with me even outside the blog. And you know, what’s interesting, is that first you imagine the persona of the blogger from their blogposts which you read often.  You have an image in your mind, of the personality. And when you actually get to the know the person, either in person or even outside the blog, on email etc., its uncanny how the two match up.

My blogger friends are world wide.  There is a 76 year old lady in Seattle who posts photos and I write poetry based on those, which she adds to her posts. Like she says, “we are a pair!”.  Then there is a lady in her forties in Australia, whose grandfather taught polo to the Jaipur royals, and her father in his eighties, was a cricketer. He enjoys some of my posts, and since he has age related sight problems, she reads my  blog posts (sometimes about cricket) to him. I called up my 84 year old blogger friend in Tucson, Arizona, on a recent short trip to the US,  and you wouldn’t have known she is deaf, because she has a phone that spelled and  displayed what I was saying! The stuff you learn about technology!

I am basically a people person. So I feel blogging is just made for me, as it were…

Q: You are one of the Senior bloggers of the Indian Blogosphere. What keeps you going and who inspires you to keep the wonderful posts coming?

A:  What keeps me going? Who inspires me?  Life, with all its troubles, happy days, sad days, worries.  And the ability to feel that I can write anything  on any subject of my choice. I feel grateful, that I have lived the life I have, with the opportunities that I have had right from when I was a child, till now.

It also certainly helps that what I write, compose or draw  is not dictated by anyone else’s standards, and possible marks and rewards.  A certain amount of bravado and  a conviction that you don’t need to confirm to certain societal norms (so long as you don’t hurt anyone),  in general public also works in my favour.  Of course, being a woman helps.

Travel within India and outside and interacting with people everywhere is a big inspiration.

As such, Vanaprasthashram is simply not on. Blogashram is.

Q: Recently, you met up with your fellow bloggers who share the same thoughts and or on the same wavelength as you are. You have made a lot of blogging friends, what are your thoughts on ‘Online Friendship’? Why are people apprehensive about it?

A:   I would distinguish between Online friendships made through blogs, and those made through social networking sites (SNS).  SNS originated in a country where people interaction is more organized, privacy is a huge concern, life situations do not involve hoards of people all the time, and family bonds normally, not always strong. So someone decided that if you indicated a persons qualities/properties/inclinations  in on-line pages,  you could garner a social group(s).

I feel this is slightly redundant in the Indian context. Our society and “inclusive” socializing makes for different kind of friendships, based on connections through family and friends, school etc. People who are already friends keeping in touch through these SNS makes sense.  Though there are always interesting success stories about people who met on the Net, one does worry about fake folks posing as someone else, and messing up a young person’s life.

Q: You are one of the contributors on ‘Limerickwala’. How different is community blog to a personal blog?

A:  This isn’t a community blog where you sign up, and get a Welcome email.  On the way back from our first blogger lunch, where we had already started commenting in limerick form on each other’s blog posts, just for fun, one of our group, brought in this suggestion for the Limerick  blog.  Of course, most of us jumped on it.  We started as 3 contributors and slowly have added  some more. We all have different extraneous interests and so our choice of topics to “limerick” about is diverse.  And we automatically respect each other’s space.

We did a limerick on the oil-PSU strike early 2009, when papers reported salaries there in excess of Rs 1 lac a month.  The thing was inundated by PSU types, commenting  in  limerick form, poetry form as well as prose.  And we had to write another limerick in reply, separately.

Q: You are known for ‘The Art on current happenings’, that too using Microsoft Paint as a tool . Can you shed some light on what thought process goes into it while making one?

A:  Please, I didn’t know I was “known”.

A blogger friend from Australia, in her seventies, did a kind of “discovery of MSPaint” post, and I was supremely attracted to it when I  saw I could fiddle around with it, kind of non-trivially.  I also do some stick figure art as a hobby where  I do personalized  pseudo warli paintings (as personal gifts), to depict happenings in a person’s life. So I thought this stuff like MSPaint was made for someone like me who had a problem with the anatomical proportions of real figures, their expressions  etc.

I started the Reghotya (means Scribbling in Marathi) blog  as a art commentary on happenings  around me, in the country and the world. As in my main blog, being shocked or angry about something triggers  some artistic outputs.  Of course since my art ability was severely limited, I had to add a wordy part. But that was the irreverent part. One depicted one’s take on the event and then had a good bloggy laugh at it.  I am just surprised that people actually click and go see that blog .

What makes all these kind of endeavours possible is that  you can give free reign to your thoughts and creativity, and enjoy the resultant output.  It doesn’t matter if no one comes around to read it. You can sit back and enjoy it in your old age. (Speaking about which, maybe it is  time to sit back)…

That was sheer awesomeness! Isn’t it? We went back to the 70’s and 80’s and yeah we won’t ask you about roads. Readers! Here is your chance to ask Mrs. Suranga what you always wanted to know about her, her times and her blog. This interview is not yet over. There is another part coming up pretty soon. Watch out for this space and the part 2 of this wonderful inspiring interview.

And here is the part 2 of her interview. Don’t Miss it!

Related posts:

1. Interview with Suranga Date – Part 2
2. Interview with Ritu of Weaving a Web
3. Interview with Kunal Sheth

Q: Now we know how funny you are. Do you reckon that helps you as a blogger, and what would you say about people using their personality in blog posts?

A: Let me answer your second question first, the one regarding people using their personality on their blog post…no…people don’t use their personality on blog posts. They display the personality they want to display. In person, I am a different man. It is the asynchronous nature of blog posts (they aren’t live) and the anonymity of internet that combine to present a potent mix to like me.

BTW, just realized I was getting very serious with the answer to this question…lets now add some humor. If blog posts were a true reflection of my personality why did I use Shah Rukh Khan’s picture on my profile (of course, I didn’t!), why would I think so much before updating my status on ibibo.com & facebook.com, why would I Google for funny one liners and upload them as my status updates instead of writing my own, why would I increase my height by 1 centimeter etc. on my Profile, why would I choose ‘Some what good looking’ on my profile, and why would I choose to ‘single’ though I have been married for a long time? Just in case it didn’t come across…when I say “I”….I mean, we all.

Now to answer your first question, yes being funny has definitely helped me as a blogger. But a bigger help has been my job at ibibo.com, which gives me enough money to buy humor books and plagiarize them. My next targets are Greatbong’s May I Hebb Your Attention Pliss and Sidin Vadukut’s DORK….I plan to plagiarize their funny lines for use on my blog.

Q: Jammy’s a renowned ‘two timer’. What advise would you give to our readers on this based on your personal experiences?

A: Two timing is easy, if you tell the truth.

When this Sprite ad was aired, I was in a state of shock. They were broadcasting to the whole world a technique perfected by yours sincerely…and to top it there was no credit at the end of the 45 seconder. Just that being a sophisticated and suave gentleman, I didn’t raise a stink like Chetan Bhagat did.

As for my personal experiences on cheating, it helps if you are in a position of power… the State Electricity Board or the Bhakra Nangal dam’s Hydel Electric Project for instance. And if you are using the car, be careful about which laptop you are going to drop after the cheating session is over… I dropped my Sony Vaio and brought home Preeti Mallar.

Q: We loved your post ‘If I was born in 2050′.You have mentioned about all the technological advancements in the house, But what we would love to know is your prediction for India in 2050 and the web usage.

A: Around 1995, some big guy started talking of ‘Digital Divide’…the gap between people who have access to digital technology and those that don’t. Around 2008, I proposed to some friends in the industry a hypothesis called ‘Search Divide’ – those that know how to search the internet effectively will manage to succeed better in life thus increasing the gap between them and those that can’t search effectively.

Since nobody ever takes a funny guy seriously, my ‘Search Divide’ theory didn’t go on to hit the headlines. Today, sitting on 2011….when I think of 2050…I get the feel that by then it will be possible to save the whole data on internet in a single capsule like container, which can then be embedded next to the human brain. Once that happens, everybody will be a theoretical expert. You ask a guy what ‘karate’ is…and his brain will Google it, pick up the best search result page & start reading it for you. And since more data (read websites) will get added to the internet every day….you will only be as smart as the version of the capsule that’s embedded.

There could be Microsoft like upgrades, so it wouldn’t be abnormal to hear people respond with voice commands like ‘Remind Me Later’ or ‘Don’t show me this message’. Those that said ‘Update Now’ might start walking slowly because of peak capacity usage. This would be the end of the reign of people who thrive on theory. That’s when I plan to be successful… for my wife says I am very practical.

Q: You are the perfect example for people to realize that B.E. is not everything in life especially in today’s world. Can you share with your experiences on why you chose not to become a B.E. and eventually become the university topper in Economics. What was the family’s role in this decision?

A: I would say a B.E .or a B.Tech is important if one has to write a book on Campus life. Coming back to my story, after wasting precious years trying to become a doctor and eventually giving up, I decided to study B.Sc Physics from The American College, Madurai (don’t ask why its called American College!). My parents refused and said they would pay if I did an Arts course because they would then be sure that I wouldn’t run away from college. That’s when being an Economist was fashionable – Dr Manmohan Singh had only recently won The Best Finance Minister of Asia award (1993 or 1994) – so I decided to become India’s next Dr Manmohan and joined BA Economics.

Q: You are responsible to build Online Communities and that is your interest. BlogAdda .com is the largest online community of Indian Bloggers. How do you think will the online communities make a difference in the future? Do you think online communities would be the answer for a prosperous India?

A: In one of Issac Asimov’s book called ‘The Naked Sun’, which was written around 1955s, he predicted that technological advancements will result in people living isolated lives. With emergence of online communities like facebook.com, ibibo.com & orkut.com, not to mention blogadda.com, this is turning out to be true. With no reason to call up or meet my friends in person (because I get to know everything about them via the online communities)…I have started spending more time alone.

Though professionally, I am striving to grow online communities…on the personal front, I am not happy about the growth of online communities because they supplement social interaction between real life friends. Besides, what is the fun in cheating on your wife (or husband) online? Let us get real.

Q: What are some of the perks of being a successful Blogger?

A: A happy wife. Rekha used to have problems in the way I portray her on ouchmytoe.com. But a few years back, she had her first brush of star-dom when while standing in a queue at the Chennai railway station a 30-year-old called Anand Sony approached her and started a conversation: “Are you Rekha?” “Yes!” “Are you Jammy’s wife, Rekha?” “Yes!” “I am a regular reader of your husband’s blog, and I know he just makes up the stories about you. BTW, I have seen your pictures on the blog.”

Other perks are mails from girls wanting a piece of you. I think it has something to do with humor writers…I am told Kushwant Singh was a favourite with women. Not that they wanted to twirl his beard, but they just liked him for his writing. By the time, I am 60 I might be able to write my own version of “Sex, lies and a bit of Malice”.

Q: What do you do in your spare time, if any?

A: When I am free, I visit liquor shops near my house and buy beer and stock them up. In 2000, a friend told me that if I washed my hair with beer daily, they would grow smoother & longer and I could then become a guitarist. But the hair hasn’t grown longer, and thus I am unable to start on my guitar lessons. To be a guitarist, one needs long hair…right?

Q: What do you find to be the most gratifying aspect of blogging?

A: The fact that one gets interviewed by BlogAdda.com and the fan mail (which isn’t more than one mail in four months). For me the most gratifying aspect of blogging is that I can send my wife subtle messages… which only she can understand.

Q: How, in general, would you rate the quality of Indian blogs? Share your favourite five blogs.

A: I am no body to be rating the state of Indian Blogs, so wouldn’t even bother. I have some favourite blogs – www.greatbong.net is one. www.labnol.org is another. After that, I would rate this Tamilian guy…whats his name…a very short guy… 165 cms or so….this guy who runs www.ouchmytoe.com as my favourite.

Q: What is your advice to someone who wants to start a blog?

A: Just start it. Don’t ask anyone how or where or why. Just pick up one platform that you know and start blogging. The journey of blogging is best understood if you travel slow and learn as you go along. Just one advice, don’t be an island-blogger (a blogger who just blogs….and neither gets people on to his blog nor visits others blogs).

Q: Let’s conclude off with a few favorites.

Color: Black

Movie: Life is Beautiful

TV Show: Dekh Bhai Dekh

Book: Catcher in the Rye by JD Salinger and Couplehood by Paul Reiser

Time of Day: All times

Your Zodiac Sign: Men at Work!

Jammy, it was a pleasure interviewing you and thanks a lot for bringing smiles on our face. We are sure our readers would have enjoyed reading this awesome second part after the fantabalous first part. Have an awesome weekend ahead.

Connect with Jammy: Blog. BlogAdda, Twitter. Ibibo.

Related posts:

1. Interview with Jamshed Rajan
2. Interview with Dina Mehta
3. Interview with Nikhil Narayanan

Update: Part 2 now live!

Q: When and why did you start blogging?

A: Technically, I started blogging around 2003…but I have been writing for a long time. When in standard VII, I had copied down a Hardy Boys novel by Franklin W Dixon called ‘The Sign of the Crooked Arrow’ in a notebook and named it ‘The Sign of the Twisted Arrow.’ Thank God, in spite of the wow factor (a standard VII student writing a mystery novel!) the publishers returned it with an apology letter.

Q: What topics do you generally blog about?

A: My topics are anecdotal, so obviously they revolve around my wife, daughter, parents and in-laws. If I were sophisticated, I would probably call it ‘Slice of Life’ writing. Better humor writers like Great Bong can write on any topic. I am like those Bill Cosbys, Sue Townsends & Erma Brombecks of the world who need to pull down their family to make a living.

Q: Do you ever get stuck when writing an entry? What do you do then?

A: I stop writing. Why else do you think my frequency of blogging is down? If I had killed one man every time I had writer’s block…I would have had more murders against my name than George Bush. I expect to overtake Hitler by next summer.

Q: Do you promote your blog? What promotional techniques work best for you and why?

A: The best way to promote ones blog is to wear the URL on your sleeve. This is a problem if you wear whites, beige etc. But a good dry cleaner could do the trick. The more you believe in your blog, the better it is. I so believe in www.ouchmytoe.com that I once rejected a candidate in an interview because she hadn’t heard of www.ouchmytoe.com in spite of being in the internet business for seven years. See, I have promoted my blog twice in this answer itself.

Q: How important is it for the blogger to interact with their readers? Do you respond to all the comments that you receive?

A: If you want to be seen as a celebrity blogger, don’t respond. Aamir Khan doesn’t come to the awards functions not because he hates the awards or he doesn’t have the time….he is just upping his celebrity quotient. Though, frankly I did give it a try…but my job at ibibo.com doesn’t provide me any bandwidth. It is a luxury to even write a single blog post in a fortnight.

Q: Rhea Rajan is the heir to the throne of India’s funniest blogger. Has she got the qualities of her father or her mother? What do you see her becoming 10 years down the line?

A: Rekha, my wife, wants her to be a doctor. I want her to be an engineer and our parents want her to be an IAS. It is all figured out. We also fell for one of the Educational Loans advertisements and started saving. Regarding your question on whom our 3 year old daughter Rhea Rajan has taken after. I think both. The other day, she dropped a wet towel on the floor (like me) and two minutes later picked it up, gave me a stare and went out of the room (like her mother).

As for your first question…yes she has already started plagiarizing. She claims ‘The Ugly Duckling’ and ‘Cindrella’ are Rhea’s stories. No, seriously. You can check out her blog at www.rhearajan.com.

Q: Jammy makes people smile and that makes God happy. He grants three wishes. What will Jammy wish and why?

A: First, I wish Tiger Woods wife never found out the truth. I mean, the guy who can manage how-many-was-it-at-last-count mistresses deserves some credit (some privacy and some funds). They do say that a lion would never cheat on his wife but a Tiger Wood….but still my heart goes out to the guy.

Second, I want World peace. Miss Universes have been requesting for World Peace for the last 50 years at every pageant but there has been no progress. This is proof that God doesn’t listen to beautiful people. Is this also proof then that God will listen to a short, dark, podgy 34-year old man? Maybe not….hence I will have to use my second wish for this.

Like Kaykai, wife of King Dashrath, I would like to keep my third wish for the time when I want to banish my wife to the jungle.

Q: Do you still eat onions for dinner? How many of the resolutions for the year 2005, as ‘ordered’ by Mrs. Jammy were you able to fulfill? What are your resolutions for the year 2010 and what do you ‘propose’ for her?

A: I got married in September 2004, so when my wife was making resolutions for me in 2005 there was still some love left for me. Year 2010 hasn’t been that good. According to her, I have quit smoking, drinking and flirting this year….after she reads this interview perhaps she will start suspecting me again.

As for her resolutions this year, I just have one that can solve all my problems: She should start respecting short, dark and ugly men like me.

Q: You seem to love Narendra Modi, India’s statue of Liberty. Which other politicians does Jammy take note of and why? Will we ever see Jammy getting into Indian politics as even that is one form of community service, right?

A: I do have some political favourites. The cattle-in-the-mouth Shashi Tharoor, and the revealing-CD-wielding Amar Singh. And yes, ND Tiwari…wish I could have his virility when I am as old. More than that, wish there are young girls willing to spend time with me when I am that old.

Q: “No man is truly married until he understands every word his wife is NOT saying.” quotes a wise man. Can you share with our readers the secret for successful marriage?

A: The same wise man also said that the perfect marriage is possible only if the husband is deaf and the wife is dumb. We have a half-perfect marriage going for us….and let me tell you I am NOT deaf. But seriously, the secret to a successful marriage is in cheating. Research has shown that cheaters make good husbands. Till they get caught, that is.

Q: The chronicles of a lonely and desperate man penned by Jammy is awesome. Can we christen you as Love Guru? As a Love Guru, how can a man transform from a lonely desperate man to a happily romantic one?

A: First, you need a sexy name. Instead of a drab Jamshed Velayuda Rajan…change your name to something sexy. Jammy for instance. Second, never aim for what you can’t achieve (I gave up on Priety Zinta & Asin within eight and eleven minutes respectively). Third, ensure your wife isn’t around….for in her presence you will continue to be lonely & desperate. The last time I gave my wife a rose, she boiled it to make rose water and made some kind of face-pack with it. Well, I have to admit that it was romantic till the face-pack came off.

Q: India’s funniest blogger would have had his share of hilarious and embarrassing moments in life. Let the closet open and our readers know them too

A: There are way too many embarrassing moments in my life. The fact that I can’t remember names, can’t remember faces, can’t be organized, can’t be social, etc. ensure its share of embarrassing moments. If I were to pick one, I would recall that moment in college when I was in love with Shalini Menon (though she didn’t know that I existed). We shared the same bus to college. Having gathered enough courage to gift her a dairy Milk Chocolate (I was relying on Amul’s punchline ‘A gift for someone you love’ to convey the message), I approached the person sitting next to her in the bus and said: ‘Please pass this on to your friend, Shalini.” She replied: “I am her elder sister Sunita. How dare you give such things to my younger sister?”

Three years later, on the last day of college I came to know that Sunita had never told Shalini about my love for her. And here I had wasted all three years of my college waiting for the ‘Yes’ of a girl who didn’t know.

When we both confronted Sunita, she just said: “Remember Shalini….one day we shared a Dairy Milk in the bus? He had given to us. Sweet na?”

Girls just don’t understand creative subtlety.

Hope you all are still ROFLing over the cheeky humour of Jamshed Rajan Aka Jammy. What do you think of his blog? Would you like to add anything to the interview? Do let us know as there is a second part coming up pretty soon of this interview. Till then,
Connect with Jammy: Blog. BlogAdda, Twitter.

Related posts:

1. Interview with Jamshed Rajan – Part 2
2. BlogAdda’s Spicy Saturday Picks – Feb. 13, ‘10
3. Interview with Ritu of Weaving a Web

Q: When and why did you start blogging?

A: After spending years in advertising & web-designing, I decided to take a break and spend more time with my daughter which was a great experience; however I did miss the creative part of my persona. Blogging provided me the perfect outlet for keeping my creative instincts alive. I started Rang Décor in January, 2007, just a couple of months after I started my personal blog  ‘Rang- The Colours of Life’ a space where I share my various interests like photography, food, travel, art & everyday musings.

Rang Décor came into being at a time when there were very few blogs covering Interior Design from India. I wanted to showcase to the world, a blend of rich traditional and contemporary interior designs from India.

Q: What topics do you generally blog about?

A: Rang Decor features interior design ideas which have an inherent Indian sensibility. It also features various traditional Indian Arts & Crafts and showcases work by Indian artists & painters. We are passionate about traveling and I post about our various travel destinations like boutique hotels, home-stays etc. The blog also covers various local art-events, craft-fairs & store tours.

A rather new feature ‘Rang Decor Reader’s Creative Spaces’ where readers of my blog share creative corners of their home with everyone. This feature has become extremely popular since it showcases real people’s real homes.

There are many posts where I share simple DIY ideas from my own home with my readers.

Q: Do you ever get stuck when writing an entry? What do you do then?

A: Every blogger/writer goes through a phase when he/she doesn’t find anything inspiring to post about. During that phase I just stay away from posting and try & draw inspiration from my offline life.

Q: How much time do you spend online every week? Do you actively promote your blog?

A: Being a multi-tasking willingly-stay-at-home mother and a freelance photographer, I try to squeeze in a few hours of quality time for my various blogs. I have never consciously (nor actively) promoted my blog. Many of of my readers have come across my blog while searching for interior design ideas from India. However, after being featured in various international interior design sites and magazines, Rang Decor now enjoys a good network of design lovers from across the world and has become increasingly popular.

Facebook has also provided me a fantastic platform where I have been able to interact, post, showcase and share various interior design ideas with like-minded people.

Q: How important is it for the blogger to interact with their readers? Do you respond to all the comments that you receive?

A: Blogging as a medium is all about sharing and getting inspired, so it is quite important to be in-touch with one’s readers. I usually try to respond to the queries and questions of the readers through emails or comments. Sometimes it gets quite difficult to respond individually to the readers and that is when I try addressing their queries through specific blog posts.

Q: What was your vision when you started ‘Rang Decor’? After being applauded by so many including Foreign Media, do you think you have been able to achieve what you had set out for?

A: Quite frankly, when I started Rang Decor, I was looking to create a space where I could archive and share interior design ideas from India. The big achievement, in my opinion, has been in reaching out to to such a diverse global creative community and in creating a platform where Indian Decor ideas can be so creatively blended into any contemporary design in any part of the world.

Q: You started out with Advertising and then moved to web designing and finally settled on to become a celebrated blogger and an avid photographer. How and when did you realize that this is what you want to do? What next?

A: As I mentioned earlier, creativity has always been an integral part of my persona. While these took form by way of a creative advertising campaign or an innovative website in my professional career, subsequently blogging providing me the perfect platform to remain inspired and be in touch with my creativity. It has also opened up a fantastic window to communicate with the bigger world and tap many more opportunities than I ever realized.

It has landed me with photography assignments by various clients both in India and Internationally. My readers have also inspired me to take on new initiatives in the areas of design & creative consulting; something I believe would be a relevant extension to the Rang Decor offering. I have also created a Facebook page for my photography, where I share my work with everyone and where people can contact me for photographic assignments at Archana Srinivas Photography.

Q: You are passionate about interior design, travel, rustic food photography & capturing the beauty of everyday life. What are your other passions which the world is not aware of?

A: As much as I love sharing my interests and passion with the world, there are some things in life that are better left private…

Q: When you are not blogging, you are a creative consultant. Can you enlighten us what exactly does the role of a creative consultant is? What do you think are pre-requisites for being a creative consultant?

A: The experience gathered over the years as a creative person in the roles of art director, web- designer, interior design enthusiast, blogger, photographer has propelled me towards creating  a role for myself, wherein I have a vision of being an ideas person, areas where I can infuse some creative dreams and inputs to people in need of some inspiration in various fields. Right now, the role is a little ambiguous but hope to come up with something more concrete in the near future.

Q: You have traveled to many exotic places and some beautiful hotels. Can you share with us your top 5 destinations which you would like to go again and the top 5 hotels which are very inviting?

A: As a family we love traveling to many off-beat places across India. Our love for staying in hotels/resorts with a history has taken us to some very remarkable places.
Our favorite destinations:

• Rajasthan – The land of vibrant colours, amazing sandstone architecture and alluring sand-dunes.
• Kerala - The peaceful backwaters, the pristine green rolling hills of Wayanad.
• Hampi, Karnataka – The grandeur of Vijayanagara Dynasty that can still be experienced through it’s ruins.
• Coonoor, Tamil Nadu - The hillstation of the south with colonial mansions, toy trains and pristine natural beauty.
• Tamil Nadu – The traditional Chettinad mansions of Karaikudi, the temple-towns of Trichy, Madurai, Kumbakonam and the lovely beaches of Pondicherry.

Our favorite hotels/homestays:

• Tranquil Homestay- Wayanad (A homestay nestled in a coffee plantation)
• King’s Cliff – Upper Coonoor (A quaint colonial mansion) read more…
• Coconut Creek - Bogmalo, South Goa (A boutique hotel)
• Sterling Swamimalai – Tamil Nadu (A heritage home) read more…
• Mandawa Haveli - Rajasthan (A restored heritage haveli) read more…

Q: Can you share with us your top 10 clicks for each room (For ex. living room, bedroom etc) for our readers?
A:

Few pics of our home that was featured in Apartment Therapy

Photos from various Rang Decor Readers Creative Spaces

Do-it-yourself ideas from my home

Q: Indian art and Interiors are among the oldest known forms in the world. The older palaces and palatial mansions were known for their intricate detailing. How do you think the designs have evolved in India and what kind of future trends do you predict in this space?

A: You raise an interesting anomaly that I would echo on Indian art. While we have possibly one of the oldest, richest and most diverse history on interior decor, many of these are in desperate need for revival before getting lost to the world. Some of these are now seeing a gradual revival by way of NGO’s and others private organizations, the key challenge in the future, will be in blending these traditional ideas in a contemporary sense, to build relevance to a larger audience, both from aesthetics and a functionality perspective.

I have many readers who are working very hard towards reviving many diminishing arts of India.  I also exchange ideas with many young creative individuals who are getting inspired by our Indian design ideas and are trying to incorporate this in their works.

Q: What do you find to be the most gratifying aspect of blogging?

A: Definitely the fact that it provides me with the platform to share things I am passionate about with people with similar interests and the interaction that is so instantaneous.

Q: How, in general, would you rate the quality of Indian blogs? Share your favourite five blogs.

A: There are many Indian blogs that have made a niche for themselves and I wish them all the best. I have many favorite blogs so I guess I am going to classify them according to my favourite five topics.

• Daily Design Inspirations: Apartment Therapy, Design Sponge , Happy Mundane & Decor*8
• Amazing artists & illustrators: Sandra Juto, Geninne’s Art Blog, Camilla Engman, Deezden
  
• Photography: Simply Photo, 3191 Miles Apart, Nectar & Light
• Food: Orangette, 101 Cookbooks, Delicious Days
• Everyday Musings: Soulemama, My Funny Eye,

Q: What is your advice to someone who wants to start a blog?

A: Just go with your heart, post about things that you are passionate about and love to share with others.

Q: Do you earn revenue through your blog? How does one go about it?

A: As of now Rang Décor is an Ads-free blog. Many sponsors/advertisers have approached me and I am giving it some thought.

Q: Let’s conclude off with a few favorites.

• Color: Orange
• Movie (s): Frida, Billy Elliot, Amelie, Cider House Rules, Dead Poet’s Society, How to make an American Quilt.
• TV Show: I admit I watch almost all the cookery shows on TV right from Nigella Express, Top Chef to Chak Le India:-)
• Book (s): Have many favorites The Kite Runner, The Alchemist, Atlas Shrugged, Maps for Lost Lovers.
• Time of Day: Early Morning
• Your Zodiac Sign: Scorpio

That was a interview filled with colours and beautiful images. Thank you Archana for such a colourful interview and we are sure our readers would have found a reason to redesign their house.  Readers, if you have any questions on anything related to Indian Interior Designs or anything mentioned in the interview do ask her.

You can connect with Archana

• Blog
• BlogAdda
• Facebook

Related posts:

1. 9 Best Indian Interior Design Blogs
2. Interview with Bhavna Bhatnagar of Indian Summer
3. Interview with Ryan Lobo

We present to you the second part of the Interview with 21 Popular Indian Bloggers.

The social networking geeks of today will be the brand managers of tomorrow in 3-5 years.

I do do do hope the companies don’t use Social Media merely for ‘push advertising’. It really takes the ’social’ out of the medium!

Not responding to comments is like giving a constipated look to someone who smiles at you.

I write on topics that range from the frivolous to the furious.

Digital media is the next big thing and you’ll start seeing a whole new type of celebrity online known as ‘Life-casters’

Life itself is so inspiring, how can one not be propelled into chronicling it??

I had benefited from the wisdom of others, I wanted to share what limited expertise I have with others and in that sense give something back.

I like to think of Twitter as a book written by the proverbial million monkeys. It’s where the truth is… or will be, soon.

The idea that one can blog for living is still not there in India.

I do not come to my blog to make a difference to India, don’t know if I can do it.

Blogging has given me much more visibility than any of my other past achievements..

I love to share my opinions about certain issues with others, which becomes difficult to do with a newspaper or magazine.

In this hectic life interacting with people from all walks of life through blog and sharing opinion on various issues makes it the most gratifying aspect of blogging

The only ethical journalism can come from a new model, one that deals directly with readers or viewers without depending on advertising support.

What separates a blog from say conventional media where there is a lag between the content and readers/viewers reaction to it.

I blog about any story that needs a voice.

Social media has changed from being more news oriented to creating interactions with your target customers.

Blogging about interior design gave me a wider canvas and a forum to interact with a bunch of other design enthusiasts.

I would like to share with people is that we should value our family, our support system.

“If the girl is pretty those who want to marry her will automatically come”. Good content is like that.

Freedom to express yourself without any inhibitions and the discussion that comes with blogging is very gratifying.

We thank all the bloggers for taking out time for the interviews and sharing so much insights. All of you are awesome and we love you all! For all those who are reading, we will appreciate if you post comments and share with us your thoughts on this interview.  We love you as well! Have a good time at BlogAdda.

Don’t forget to read the part one of ‘Interview with 21 popular Indian bloggers’.

Related posts:

1. Interview with 21 popular Indian bloggers
2. Interview with Indian Homemaker
3. Interview with Bhavna Bhatnagar of Indian Summer

Q: Poonam, you want to be a movie director and your favorite films are all of different genre. We are sure you would be a successful movie director one day. Can you give us a sneak peek on what kind of movie would Poonam’s directorial debut be and whom would you like to cast?

A: Like every dreamer, I have been foolish to announce to the world about my daydream to direct a movie. Honestly, I have LOT to learn before I can actually do that. I haven’t taken a single step so far in that direction.

Personally when I go for a movie, I demand either a strong story or a great experience. Usually either of two suffices for a nice movie watching experience. So, if I were to direct a movie, it should have both of these. Something like Anurag Kashyap’s movies Gulaal and DevD that defy prudishness and are unapologetic in their brutally honest portrayals. Or I would like to create great experiences like in Wake Up Sid that had a run-of-the-mill story but fantastic relatable experience.  If I could ever make a visually riveting movie like Avatar (in 3D) backed by a story (which is a typical Hindi masala movie but fits the visuals), I would say I have made success of my life.

Q: Alchemist Poonam and Visceral Observations. Two complicated words and has a lot of meaning behind it. Can you share with us the significance and the thought behind the names?

A: Alchemist (by Paulo Coelho) is a book, I am aware, people love to bash. But when I read it, several years ago, I found it beautiful, full of messages that made lot of sense to me. The protagonist Santiago desires something that is right near to him, yet he has to conduct a search round the world before he can get to it.  Life’s like that. What I need is perhaps close by, but I need to make that effort to deserve to get it. Like mentioned in the book, I believe in some omens and instincts. And they have put me in good stead several times in my life.

Also, alchemist are these wonderful who could convert things into gold, I like to think that I as a wordsmith I do spin gold.

As for my blog name, Visceral Observations, the word ‘visceral’ means intuitive, which is again a reflection of my personality. My decisions and choices in life are not overtly rational, but certainly intuitive. Hope this explains.

Q: We know you like to call yourself an activist. How do you think can one make a difference to create a better living for the people in the society?

A: Amend. I call myself a small-time activist. Small-time, because I really don’t do much other than occasional teaching, writing and making protests (in person at times). There are many other people like my sister, who choose to work for NGO and work full-time in the social sector with dedication. Only such people can be called activists.

And yes, to your next question, I can certainly say that activists make a difference. My theory is if I can change the life of one person with my efforts, I have paid back my debt to life. I am still to get there, but hundreds of people are making a difference by touching the lives of the underprivileged and the troubled they come across every day. So yeah, I think activism makes a difference. And it can be done in many ways: creating awareness, counselling, donating, teaching, empowering people.

Q: You have blogged quite a few posts on Consumer Rights. With the power of RTI in the consumer hands, do you think the rights of the consumers have increased? Can you also suggest a few examples where you felt the consumer  used his right very effectively so that our readers can benefit from the learnings?

A: Consumer rights do not really grab our eyeballs in India. I think, Consumer Protection Act, 1986 till date remains most under-used law.

I am not being judgemental here, I too can give up (and have) when it comes to long-stretched battles because we all have paucity of time. Just recently, when my flight got cancelled, I got tired of arguing my case to airline to provide next possible replacement flight. When I realised they won’t, and that I might be stranded for two days. I asked for full refund and booked a new flight that cost double. In that moment, I conceded my defeat as a CONSUMER.

However, there are people like Col. Rajesh Yadav and Amit, who refuse to be put down and have fought consumer court cases. Col. Yadav won a consumer court case against ICICI Bank when bank refused to after a debit card loss and fraud. ICICI bank had to pay him Rs. 80, 000 against the loss of Rs. 46, 000 from his account!

Amit is another hero, who irritated by overcharging at Bangalore Airport had filed a consumer court case. He won. (Though last I spoke to him, he was still waiting for the monetary compensation from the vendor.)

To me, they are the heroes of common man like us. Thanks to them, I know there are consumer courts, where you do not need to hire a lawyer and you can plead your own case. Usually consumer courts are faster. I recommend anyone who is willing to fight their case in a consumer court, read their interviews on my blog for tips and court procedures. Though it has not been easy for even these heroes to hold their ground, but their examples show us that it is DOABLE. We CAN.

For all the readers, who routinely post consumer rights queries on my blog, here is another post that I have written solely for this purpose. This post has links to all recourses available to a Consumer.

Q: Poonam’s heart aches for ragpickers and wants to Hail and Save them, How do you think one can go about doing that? Have you been personally involved in any cause which are for the upliftment of ragpickers?

A: This subject is close to my heart. Every time I see small kids working as rag pickers, my heart does a painful somersault inside. I have written about this issue at various platforms other than my blog.

Not only is this child labour, but also even as a labour it is not recognised or paid well. These kids are not beggars, God, they do us a great service by helping in recycling our waste. For this, they pay dearly with their health and childhood. Ever taken a look at their fingers? They are badly cut, injured, calloused due to constant sifting through all sort of waste.

There is no chance of their attending school since they do this work full-time. Plus there is no real money gain: kabariwala seth robs you, MCD does not recognise you, policeman beats you and sometimes street bullies snatch your earnings.

Yes, I did try making some efforts for them. With the help of NGO (actually many NGOs), we did deliver gloves to ragpickers in some areas. We then visited the houses to request families to dispose of stuff, like broken glass that can injure, carefully. Told them a first level segregation of recyclable and non-recyclable things can be done right at home. That helps our rag picker kids.

Further, we organised teaching classes for these kids on weekends. I wish I could claim we were very successful. We were not. It was hard to retain kids for the classes. Even with snacks. (In fact, some came only for the snacks.) The group of students I taught on one Saturday was nowhere to be seen again on the next. Because these kids have to go and earn, the family needs the money. If you force them or are harsh, they will drop out completely. So you do the best you can. To this day, I wonder what happens to all those kids that are ‘rescued’ from child labour industries? My hunch is after all hue and cry, children perhaps go back to some other work, because we do NOT solve the root cause: the poverty of the family. The family needs employment. Period.

Which is why, I am a great fan of all the NGOs that let you sponsor a child’s education. If your NGO tells you how money is being spent on a child, updates you on the child’s educational progress, believe me it’s a campaign we all must be part of if we can.

Q: You are an instructional designer. Not many people would be knowing about the profile of an Instructional designer. Our readers would love to know more about it.

A: Instruction Design is a study of how learning happens. Abroad, universities and colleges have courses on instruction design. In India, Symbiosis is the only institute that provides you a degree in the subject.

So as a training designer or instructional designer (ID), we design training program for a given subject and learner’s profile. When I say designer, do not confuse me with a graphic designer. Most IDs in India have a dedicated team of graphic designers with whom they work.

So what do we do?

For example, Harvard plans to introduce a course in game design or Citibank wants to train its employee on a new banking software, they call in the services of an ID. As an ID, we do not need to have prior subject-matter knowledge of game design or that software. We have subject matter experts (SMEs) for that. We work in tandem with the SMEs to understand how and what needs to be taught and what goals need to be accomplished.

We (IDs), based on the profile of learner, decide what medium will we choose to design a program: Will it be through a video, or simple graphics or an animation or plain text information, a PowerPoint or via a mini game that aims to teach? We then decide the strategy to teach: Will our course have humor or a story or a scenario or simulation and so on.

A course plan is charted, a storyboard (SB) is created with instructions to multimedia team what to do, SME verifies the accuracy. SB goes into production a multimedia team brings our imagination to life. Our task doesn’t end here. We need to have learner feedback and test them (the learners) to evaluate how effective the training program has been.

So, an ID is a director of a training program. I have designed training programs ranging from game design, visual design,  information security, supply chain management, business administration, corporate planning, ERPs, documentaries for schools and so on. As you can see, a career in instruction design is anything but mundane and can be a roller-coaster ride. You can learn more about ID, at The Writer’s Gateway, a blog run by professional Indian instructional designer Rupa Rajagopalan.

Q: How, in general, would you rate the quality of Indian blogs? Share your favourite five blogs.

A: I find Indian blogs terrific. Be it politics, games, tech, social issues, or entertainment, you have fantastic bloggers in each genre.

From top of mind, if I have to name only 5, these would be:

• Cartoonist Anshul Maheshwari blogs at Brainstuck.com. He has been interviewed on other places on Web as well as covered by mainstream media in several articles.
• Nita J. Kulkarni blogs at A Wide angle view of India. Think about any topic India, Nita has a well-researched and thought-provoking post on the subject. She has a HUGE readership, more than 10 lakhs. That’s a blogging feat.
• Mahendra blogs at An Unquiet Mind. He is staff writer at Makeuseof.com and an editor at Techmeme.  Other than that, he writes a fabulous personal blog where he dabbles in topics ranging from philosophy to movies.
• Smita blogs at Books, Life n More. She has this chatty blog where she writes about her life and also reviews books in an informal style.
• Jai Arjun Singh blogs at Jabberwock. Ironically though Jai Arjun Singh is quite a popular blogger, I discovered his blog via Avant Garde Bloggies Awards. I love reading his succinct reviews and opinions on movies and books.

Having mentioned them, I have to point out that I have a rocking blogroll. Each blog on my blogroll is worthy of being read regularly with interest. These blogs speak for themselves. So, they are all my favourites.

If you haven’t interviewed these people here on Blogadda, then you must. Blogadda readers deserve to know more about them.

Q: What promotional techniques work best for your blog? Do you earn revenue through your blog? How does one go about it?

A: I DO NOT promote my blog. 8 out of 10 times, I update my blog, I don’t inform anybody, do not even post on twitter or Facebook. Every loyal reader/subscriber I have had has been word-of-mouth. Also, I have had several other interview requests, but this is the first one I have ever agreed to.

Another example is the recently organised Avant Garde Bloggies Awards 2009. For this venture, after letting out the first information via blog and email, I did not spam anyone with it anywhere, be it twitter or Facebook. Only few, necessary updates were made. But I must add that it helped to know several wonderful bloggers and twitter-ers who helped to spread word via their tweets and blog posts. My sincere thanks to each one of them.

I have never made money out of my personal blog, so I would not preach about how to go about it.

Q: What do you find to be the most gratifying aspect of blogging?

A: Freedom to express yourself without any inhibitions and the discussion that comes with blogging is very gratifying. Sometimes, a conversation opens your mind, changes the way you look at things. And of course, appreciation and recognition that comes your blog is an icing on the cake. It has happened to me several times now, that I have gone to an event or a meet where no one recognises me. But if I mention my blog, they are like, “Oh, I know your blog. You are that Poonam.” Suddenly I am no longer a stranger, but someone with whose opinions they agree (or disagree) and respect. That, I think, is the gift of blogging.

Q: What is your advice to someone who wants to start a blog?

A: Just get on with writing. Don’t reconsider the idea/angle of the post too much. Start writing just as your thoughts start flowing, post will come on its own. Now is not the time to edit, editing is different process than writing. It will come later when you have put all your thoughts on blog.

Don’t set a condition for yourself: That I will write when I finish this task or when I check this up and so on. Most probably you will never fulfill your condition and your writing will suffer.

And remember for writing well, you need to be a good reader first.

Lastly, interact with your commentators. Engage them. Because these are the people, whose appreciation and opinions will keep you going on your bad blogging days.

Q: Let’s conclude off with a few favorites.

Color: Blue and Black. I need both, can’t do without either of them.

Movie: From top of my mind: Casablanca, One Flew Over a Cuckoo’s Nest, DevD, Gulal, Johnny Gaddar, Waltz with Bashir, Persepolis, Before Sunset, Eternal Sunshine of a Spotless Mind, Abhimaan, I could go on and on. Here is one such list of my favourite movies starting with each alphabet.

TV Show: None at the moment. I have not watched TV for more than six months now. But usually I like to watch dance based shows. I have loved both Nach Baliye and Jhalak Dikhla Ja at one point of time.

Book: Again from top of my mind: The Blind Assassin (Margaret Atwood), To Kill a Mocking Bird, (Harper Lee), City of Djinns (A Delhi book by William Dalrymple), Watership Down (Richard Adams), Riots (Shashi Tharoor), The Kite Runner (Khalid Hosseini), Angela’s Ashes (A memoir by Frank McCourt), Shantaram (Gregory David Roberts), English, August (Upmanyu Chatterjee)..Oh, I could go on and on. You can get more info about my readings and choices at my Shelfari and Goodreads page.

Time of Day: Late in Night. I am a nocturnal bird.

Your Zodiac Sign: Aquarius

Thanks a lot Poonam for the interview and the first-look exclusive picture. We wish you the best for all your endeavors. It was a pleasure knowing the alchemist and for the first time the face behind ‘Alchemist Poonam’. Readers, shoot in your questions now to Poonam and ask her something which you have always wanted to. Here is the chance. If you jumped in to this interview directly, do not forget to read the part one of this interview.

Connect with Poonam: Blog, BlogAdda, Twitter

Related posts:

1. Interview with Poonam Sharma
2. Interview with Suchitra Krishnamoorthi
3. Interview with 21 Popular Indian Bloggers – Part 2