To Blog or not to Blog….

 

I missed the start of the Blog era. Following graduation in 2001 and my return to the Land of the Pure, I went into shock. First there was the shock caused by loss of freedom having returned to live under my parent’s roof and the requirement to once again be part of a family and its routines and nuances. Then there was the shock of joining the workplace (albeit as an IBD – In Daddy’s Business). But above all there was the shock of losing my super fast always-on backed by T3s and OC-12s dormitory network connection and being forced to dial-up on phone lines that showed connections at 56 Kbps but barely functioned above 12 Kbps. This slowly suffocated the Internet enthusiast in me to the point that internet usage beyond email and the basic necessary IM usage seemed like an exercise in futility. And thus I became a proverbial Internet Rip van Winkle, sleeping away while the world changed around them.

I woke up to find that Pakistan had a vibrant blogging community, there were people with their own domain names, people were being quoted on international media, and we were covering live events (Long March 2009) thru Twitter and CoverItLive. During this time I admit, I did manage to hop onto the Orkut and Facebook wagons (so I guess I was sleeping with one eye open). I was never a good writer; at least not if you compared me to my father, my sister, or some of my cousins. But i still managed to embarrass plenty of my fellow university students during peer reviews in the English classes and became the teacher’s poster boy for great writing skills. I also managed to con my way onto the Opinion staff of the college paper and stay there for three years, mainly airing my views on international topics or campus issues.

Upon graduation and my return to the homeland in 2001 (a couple of months before OBL allegedly blew a hole in NYCs skyline), I found myself unable to write due to my parents’ request to steer clear of politics, religion and confrontation. To their defence they knew my tendency to (for lack of a better phrase) call a spade a spade. Thus, I packed my writing utensils up and for the past 8 years or so have not written anything.

The digital coverage of Long March 2009 introduced me to the world of Twitter and introduced me to the world of Pakistani bloggers. Discovering that so many of my fellow countrymen were utilizing the web to air their opinions on all and sundry, the thought crept in my head: “if that guy can write so can you”. Somewhere end of April I took the first step and made accounts on both WordPress and Blogger. It took me an entire month to brush off the cobwebs, grease the appropriate part of my brain, and find the time to do the necessary. Along the way I was pushed and encouraged by a prominent Pakistani blogger Faisal.K, author of Deadpan Thoughts, who happens to be extended-extended family in a chain formed through marriages and what-nots. (Thank you Faisal for the help and advice).

By now atleast 50% of you have switched off their browsers and the remaining 50% are thinking of doing it. So I will sign off with a small list of reasons I should Blog.

1. Most of my old articles are slowly disappearing from the internet.
2. Everyone and his uncle seems to be doing it.
3. Need a URL to put on my Twitter & Facebook profiles.
4. Its cheaper than visits to a shrink.
5. If Faisal.K can blog so can I. :p

Until next time……..

Bak Raha Hoon Junoon Mein Kya Kya Kuch
Kuch Na Samjhe Khuda Kare Koi
[Mirza Asadullah Khan Ghalib]