Thursday, April 2, 2009

Why?

For the past few days, I've been wondering what to write about. I didn't experience or couldn't come up with anything interesting or worthy enough to write here. I faced a blogging block which made me wonder the reason why I blog. This post examines that.

Some of my friends and relatives have asked me for the reason behind blogging. A few of them can't understand how people can post such personal thoughts in a public domain. My neighbour, known for his outspokenness, has revulsion towards blogging. He told me "You are wasting time writing these blogs mate. You blogging buggers better off doing something else. You guys write and read rubbish". I retorted "well it is very easy to rubbish other's opinion and thoughts. Sometimes, you are what you think of other people". It was pointless talk and we couldn't disagree with each other enough.

So, why do I/people blog?

People write blogs because something has affected them. The effect of it is a post in their blog. The post is result of the emotion (good or bad) which they feel compelled to let out.

They experience/meet/see an event, person, place, thing - get terribly excited by it and share their $0.02 thoughts for the few dedicated readers who skim through the blog during their coffee break at work and hope for the (non)pointless comment(s) if they care to write one.

I started to blog after moving to Australia. I am still developing my friends' network here. I have made numerous acquaintances ranging from hi-bye friends to few persons I consider to be genuine friends. I miss my social circle back home. Blogging fills the void created by the absence of my family & friends. I find blogging an ideal way to let out. When you lose/miss something, you attempt to replace it with something else. I blog.

When I blog, the content of the post - to a certain extent - is determined by the state of my mind. The way I write reflects a part of me at the particular moment of time. Being an introvert, I particularly enjoy blogging since I feel I, sometimes, express myself better through writing. Blog is a place where I collect and focus my mind, rather than a plea for attention.

Writing, I believe, enlarges the perception of oneself (self perception - the way we see ourselves). The more I write (remembering it is the quality of writing not quantity), the more I learn about me. The more you know/learn about yourself, the way your see yourself gradually changes. Knowing thy self is a deep concept. You can only, ever, know about yourself from your own perspective. It is packed with profound insights and understanding no person will be privy to, or even comprehend. But, it is important that we study ourselves. Even though understanding oneself is only a part of our being, it is important that we make that pursuit within us.

Writing, I believe, is one of the tools for that pursuit. Blogging is the vehicle I use for it.

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On further thought, why do I consider 'knowing yourself' a big deal after all?

I believe most people don't know themselves enough. If you self examine or observe people - people think of themselves in a certain way, but behave in certain way, as a result things take shape in certain way. Sometimes people act in ways that are unbeknownst to us. You see what I mean? I initially found this quite puzzling. It appeared as if they seemed to be confused and quite vague about what they think/feel about themselves. If you extrapolate this 'confusion' and 'vagueness' to a larger level, it doesn't give you a good picture. To me, it presents a picture of the world we live in. If we look at ourselves - humans, we are constantly confronting and fighting with each other across racial, ethnic, political divisions. We are hardly ever at peace. Collectively we are always at unrest. Peace and happiness doesn't seem to be omnipresent. Global peace, so far, seems to be a fictitious idea. The real conflict is actually within us - with our soul and spirit. Unless we know who we really are and we take the journey within ourselves, it is impossible to resolve this conflict. Writing/blogging may not solve world's problems and bring peace around you; it might create peace within you. Enough rambling I guess. :D

4 comments:

  1. Sriram,
    Thanks for dropping by! First time here too.

    This is a really nice post! Even i wanted to blog about why we write?

    You rightly mentioned you blog of self and not for comments nor hits nor crowd! Your genre of writing is very very much like mine! :)

    I write because of some passion towards writing oflate best way to vent yourself your emotions. So many times i felt good after i published the post because it makes me feel lighter :) in good sense!!

    Keep blogging!

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  2. Thanks Nirmal.

    Yes, same here. I've been blogging for the last six month. I am enjoying it.

    Keep visiting! :D

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  3. tell you what homie, you are going beyond impressing chicks and you are even impressing me.

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  4. very true...it has become my hobby to read blogs now...I don't get enough time on computer lately...I feel like blogging too after reading few ineresting blogs...they are inspiring me like rumbling volacano ready to spit...I have a vehicle through whom I can let my expression out...those blogs has been delivered with the specific feeling and emotion i have...excellent work guys...specifically to sriram, the other bloggers like, Vijay Ganesh i find yours interesting, Nirmal, foreigndesi...DOT...Mukund, has lot of scope for improvment, what a vocab...

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