why do you blog?

India, Nov 2012

In my trip to India couple of months back, the first time after my wedding, a lot of people (friends and relatives) asked me what I do in the US?  Why don't I have a job?  What do I do all day then?  Don't I get bored at home?

I had to explain a few things about why I don't work.  I'm not too proud that after an Engineering and an MBA degree I'm still a housewife here.  But I do not get bored at home.  I do not give myself a chance to get bored, really.  I try to keep myself busy all day, and I blog.

"Why do you blog?  What do you get out of it?," they asked.

In the initial days when I moved to US after marriage, I used to be alone at home all day.  There were no family or friends around, there was no reason for me to go shopping all day everyday either.  I did not want the loneliness to turn into depression.

I thought to myself.  I have several interests that depend on and change with my moods.  But one that has not changed is the desire to share what I know.  If I have searched for something extensively and collected information, or if there were things I learned from mine or anyone's experience, it made sense to me to save someone else’s time by sharing what I have and what I know.

I saw that some popular blogs were about cooking, some famous ones were about crafts and DIY projects, whereas some people with expertise in photography or make-up had a lot to talk about.  Some had great book/movie reviews to share, some shared knowledge about gadgets, and thousands of other blogs and websites had almost everything covered under the sun!  I realized I could not focus on any particular area or topic to write about, and since I did not believe in settling on a niche in blogosphere, I found this the best platform to write and share all I want.  And keep myself busy enough to not turn crazy.

Bangkok, Nov 2008

I used to organize games for birthdays, anniversary parties, or get-together, and was an emcee at events for family and family-friends back home.  When it became a regular task for me, I started keeping lists of games to make it easier to select and arrange activities for the next party.  Hence came the posts regarding game ideas.  In fact came several other posts regarding many other Ideas that I thought were worthy.

We all get forwarded e-mails of jokes or stories that cheer us up.  And some extremely annoying ones that require sending to 20 people or something bad would happen.  I don’t know how many times I’ve died because of not forwarding them.  But at least the interesting ones, whether humorous or inspirational, that were worth sharing with others managed to reach this place.

I like story-telling (may be 'coz of the journalism class I took in high school) and try to make my write-ups make some sense.  I’m expressive too, so the words take form of poetry occasionally.  I have also been told I’m a good teacher, and I love teaching things in spusht manner, that’s how the How-To posts made it here.  And from the little traveling I do, some of it gets added to my travelogue.

Texas, March 2011

Lastly, the recipes.  The very first weekend in US when I went grocery shopping with Alok, on the way back home I was into tears and told him I didn’t even know how to buy vegetables, what was I going to feed him for the rest of our lives?  Suddenly regretting why I did not come prepared, I started to cook obsessively, surprised myself by actually loving it, shocked everyone who knew me, and wanted to make cooking appear easier for anyone else in my shoes.

And when I receive questions asking for my help and 'thank you' comments & e-mails from some amazing people around the world, it makes my writing and time spent blogging worth it.  This is what I get out of it.

And THIS is why I blog.
 

- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -

I do not know if this small, humble effort of mine as a blogger is actually helpful and worthwhile to most of the visitors, readers, and silent readers.  Unless you tell me.  So now, it’s your turn: 

Non-bloggers:  any suggestions for improvements? or what do you want to see more of on this blog?

Bloggers:  share with me why YOU like to blog? or write a post yourself describing your journey and link it so I can check it out too?