The Fine Art of Blogging

 I started blogging around 2008 or 09, with a push from Hari, who was already a blogger. Over the years, it has not dimmed- my enthusiasm for blogging, I mean.

I also have an increased readership among humans and bots, as a helpful reader pointed out when there was a sharp rise in viewership as per Google Analytics. Well, I don't mind it one bit/byte. (intended)

Ok, so this is my 200th blog post for 2025. And it's not even New Year's Eve. So I am going to enjoy this double century.. having once played cricket, I know it's value.

Thanks to all the readers- especially the human readers, for keeping me going by reading and occasionally commenting. I met one reader who told me she was unable to comment. Not being technically competent to solve that problem, I am happy that she reads the blog.

Hopefully interesting things will keep happening, and I will keep writing about them. Happy Reading, and writing, if you are also a writer.

As a bonus, you can take a look at the two latest interviews on my Youtube channel- links below. With Ananya Nandi De and Natasha Kothari.

https://youtu.be/AQwHBrxButc

https://youtu.be/Gpe3yD27_Lg

Why I Will Not Get a Nobel

 It's a real reality check. But in accordance with the adage Know Thyself, I will do some analysis of the Self. It's like taking selfies, but deeper.

I have almost zero knowledge of Physics, Chemistry, or Medicine.

I only read good literature, don't write any.

My knowledge of Economics is limited to the current prices of vegetables.

I have not helped solve an India-Pakistan conflict, or an Israel-Gaza conflict, or a Russia-Ukraine conflict, or one in my backyard where dogs fight with man, or with other dogs. Catfights are also not my territory to solve- because they usually don't involve cats..

Which basically leaves me with other Prize options, like the following-

Greatest Golf Trainer in Asia Prize

Great at Forgetting People's Names Award

Most Regular Blogger at 65 Medal

Punek (Anek) Pun Creator Prize

Best Movie Critic Award

PJ forwarder and OJ Maker Award

Not a bad set.. what are you likely to win?

Spike in Blog Viewership

 Spike in viewership. Of this blog. Even if 10% of this is genuine, non-bot readership, I am happy. 

This month13696 (there's another week to go in this month-June 2023)

Last month2120
Not sure what explains this sudden spike. It has happened a couple of times before. When I started blogging, it grew steadily and settled at around 100 views a day. More recently, it has ranged from 30-50 a day. Maybe Chat GPT got interested in finding out what I write about? (P.S. As on 26 June 2023, the cumulative views -since 2009- have crossed 800000)

This Blog

 This blog of mine has had 772255 views till date, across some 2550 blog posts. Even I am impressed, in this day and age, that there are some regular readers, who have subscribed to the feed, and I assume, read some of the posts. The stats reported say many views are from USA, but that might be because of location of the servers, as somebody pointed out earlier. 

Also surprising because I am mostly a writer of text, though I understand that visual content is consumed more widely and easily. I have only stuck to photographs of people or things that I have clicked, or someone who was with me has clicked, when I use these. Very rarely, shots of celebs or book covers. This year, I posted 175 times, till date. Not bad, approximately averaging one post every two days.

Anyway, I am grateful for the fact that you are one of those who have read the blog, or some of it, from time to time. Some bloggers have a huge fan following, and I am amazed. I would probably only want a few comments now and then. Not much else to ask for.

Fan-mail to Self

 This is an idea from Nishka, a former student and friend who writes stuff. So let me try this out. This one's restricted to blogging, one of many things I may have fans for - sounds conceited? Ha, ha,.. anyway, here goes..

Dear Raj,

I have followed your blog ever since you started it-around 12 years, I believe. Plenty of people blog, and some write about food, or plants, or poetry. Some use a lot of photographs, and some are bare. Some have serious content bordering on proselytising (not sure if that's the right word, but I wanted to use it), and some are full of humour.

I can't really categorise your blog, because it's all over the place, like life itself. Not a tear-jerker, fortunately, because I hate that kind of stuff. Even when you have some "learnings" that you share, it's in palatable doses, and I am thankful for that.

What I most like about it, is each piece is short, so even if I dislike it, there's not much to dislike. Of course, mostly I veer towards liking them. Just wanted to let you know. If possible, keep writing. You know you have at least one reader who looks forward to it.

Yours truly..

On the Threshold of 750000 Views

 All Time Views of this blog at 10 am on 30th November, 2021.

749991

Other stats

Today12

Yesterday107

This month2954

Last month2653

I started the blog in 2009 sometime, inspired by Hari, my BIL who was already a blogger then. I first heard the term Weblog in an interview for admission, where a candidate mentioned it as his hobby. We (blogging and I) seemed to be made for each other. It gave me the freedom to write as and when I pleased, and publish to anyone in the world who wanted to read it- the world is literally your oyster, when you blog. I have had surprising statistics on viewers from countries that were least expected when I began blogging. The title of this blog comes from the words of a favourite Hindi song- Yeh shaam mastani, madhosh kiye jaaye.. The journey is on, as long as I enjoy it, and the number of readers is greater than 1.

Blog Readers- Thank You

 736,060 is the number of views of this blog till date, since I began blogging, around 12 years ago. 

Very flattering numbers, even if you discount some tricks played by bots which plant some comments on behalf of strange clients in the comments.

I don't have a specific topic or theme that I blog about. It's sometimes a journal or diary, sometimes an opinion piece, or creative humour, satire etc. Also included are occasional book reviews and film reviews.

Over the years, I have managed about 150 posts a year on an average, with a viewership of about 50-100 on most days. 

Thank you, readers who are regular or irregular, and commenters (genuine human ones). You are a great motivation to continue.

The Art of Writing a Blog

 I have seen a lot of ads on my social media pages that offer training on making films, giving speeches, and the like. This is not an attempt to enter into that territory, but just to make some confessions. I used to read a lot of blogs, regularly. Now, that regularity is reduced. No wonder, because anyone reading anything regularly is now an exception more than a rule. But I wanted to simply share my thoughts about writing. A blog is only one part of it. If you think you have something to say, you say it. Not always true. You may be an introvert, wonder if the boss (or anyone else) will like what you are going to say, and NOT say it.

But social media in general, and blogs in particular, allow you to write down your thoughts about various things. In my case, my thoughts about books, films (when I was still watching), people (students, colleagues, bosses!), TV anchors, Air hostesses, and of course, management education. And, of course, funny stuff, witticisms, or PJs included-that, some say, is my forte. Well, it's a natural talent, so I won't deny it. 

But my point was this..that you can pretty much write in any style (it's the closest thing to a democracy), and about what pleases you most. I have always admired those who can write long pieces, for example. Mostly, I cannot. Some are good with words, some others with visuals, and some equally facile with both. I use visuals to enhance the written word, if at all. Many of my posts are all-text. 

Readership, you can let it build naturally, and also help people find you through promotion on other media that you use. People can subscribe to your blog if you use a mainline blogging platform, and write regularly. 

Teaching Digital Marketing

I always have a lot of fun teaching, mainly because I try and get students to do small activities in class, and enjoy what they come up with in response. This time, thanks to Anjali who assisted me in teaching, we had a new exercise. They had to come up with an endorsement on video for a matrimonial site (of their choice). It had to be only 30 seconds long.

Another activity was to do a podcast, for a brand in a given category. Some came up with very creative ideas for one, using only audio. Of course, I continued with a blogging exercise that student groups have to do through the length of the course, on things to do with Digital Marketing. There were a few interesting ones there too. Viewership stats also had to be shown, and ways in which the blogs were promoted.

There were a few other activities too,  which I will describe some other time.

The Mumbai MBA class also had subscribed to this course, and due to the smaller class size, it was a pleasure to teach it there. I really think our class sizes are too big for anyone's good.

Milestone 600000

That's 600,000 views for my blog, that started around 2009, and has spent a decade in the virtual world. 1968 posts in all so far. Thank you, readers.

From the July 27 Google Stats-

Pageviews yesterday

99

Pageviews last month

3,549

Pageviews all time history

600,594

Pageviews today

148

I Wonder...

Sometimes, I wonder if..


1. I had not cleared that interview for IIM Bangalore admission into the MBA program,..

2. I had not got a scholarship to go do a Ph.D. at Clemson, USA...

3. I had not returned to India after a couple of years' teaching,..

4. I had not worked in Marketing Research and Advertising,...

5. I had not written that book..or those books..

6. If I had not started blogging,..

7. If I had not got a single friend request on fb,..

My life would have been poorer, for sure. I am happy it turned out the way it did.

Advice, 2018 Edition

I am back, with advice. No, you don't have to follow it..just read and forget. Because this is not mine, or original. Just a random collection..from sources that are too widespread to remember..

Live your life..(eh? What's THAT?)

Follow your passion- Sanju did, and see what happened?

Get in line for ration, or reservation- that seems workable!

Travel..Ok, you don't need this.

Marry at the right age  (I mean late-the later you marry, the less time you have to regret it)

Watch Rajnikant and Prabhas films..those  Superheroes are nothing compared to these guys..Kabali, da..

Read books..well, not all of them. Avoid best-sellers sold at airports, for example.

Ok, last one. Read my blog. The End.

Half a Million Views

This blog just crossed an interesting landmark/milestone of 500, 000 views. Thanks to you, dear reader.

Pageviews last month

9,536

Pageviews all time history

500,027

Followers

116

Posts Entry Pageviews Japan- Memories Mar 18, 2018, 2 comments 182 Why We Get Along with Some Mar 1, 2015, 5 comments 124 Intro to an Introvert Mar 15, 2018 99 Names That Ring a Bell Aug 19, 2016, 3 comments 87 Thinking- a Lost Art? Mar 14, 2018 82

Traffic Sources Entry Pageviews http://m.facebook.com 1296 http://m.facebook.com/ 178 https://www.google.co.in/ 59

Blog Readership Crosses 485000

Some amazing stats for the readership of this blog. (on Feb 9, 2018)   Pageviews today                 415

Pageviews yesterday

878

Pageviews last month

8,772

Pageviews (all time history)

485,084         What's the correlation? It generally has to do with the readership from students past. If something catches their attention, the  readership soars. Of course, there are other readers I have, like current students, former colleagues, friends and relatives. But I suspect the past students outnumber them by a large margin. Anyway, whoever you are, thanks for the motivation. I promise you more of what you have been reading :)

Blog Crosses 450000 Views

What keeps you going may be different, but I think blogs/books/conversations keep me going. This blog has been going on for a few years now, and if the readership figures are correct, it seems to get an average of 100 hits a day.

I have also come across a few great blogs along the way, and I want to name a few of them.

Parul Kashyap Thakur's is one of them (she's a former student of IMT Nagpur). Another is a of a cartoonist, Satish Acharya, and one more is that of Vinod Ekbote, who goes book-shopping at Abids in Hyderabad every Sunday. Sowmyashree Gonibeedu also writes poetry on hers.

Harimohan is the one who introduced me to blogging, and he has a very good one. I think every one has a blog inside him/her, but only some choose to write it down. Here's to more people doing it!

Amazing Blog Stats

Startling Stats

For some reason, there was a spike in this blog's views yesterday. While the usual daily views are around 100 plus, yesterday they went to 1,769. Not sure why, but maybe I will find out in due course. Anyway, enjoying the spike while it happens. Today of course, we are back to a more normal and down-to-earth figure.

 

Sep 16, 2017 3:30 PM – Sep 23, 2017 2:30 PM

Pageviews today 94 Pageviews yesterday 1,769 Pageviews last month 8,145 Pageviews all time history 440,552 Followers 116

Record Blog Views on a Day

Pageviews today

34

Pageviews yesterday

507

Pageviews last month

7,518

Pageviews all time history

408,144

Followers

116

This is a day to cherish for this blog, as it hit an all-time high of 507 views in a day. Thought I would record it for posterity.

4,00,000 and Going

Some stats from my blog to be proud of-

Pageviews last month

10,411

Pageviews Alltime 400, 035

Readers of course, are the key. I did not expect so many of you, really. I am truly madhosh. To celebrate, I am reproducing below an early blog post from 2008 titled Novelty.

What we need to keep us going is something new. According to guys like Osho, everything is evolving all the time, and therefore when you see it tomorrow it is different from what it was yesterday. This applies to everything- from a leaf on a tree to your wife, or for that matter, yourself (the mirror will vouch for that!). But everyone is not Osho. So we make valiant attempts to find variety in our lives. At least I do, sometimes with good results, sometimes with terrible ones. For example, I have tried almost all snacks available at airport counters, and they are equally bad! Ditto for food served inside the aircraft. Maybe when it is airborne, an idli has its way of getting "airy", and therefore tastes like tissue paper soaked in something. I have also tried flying all the domestic airlines now, and they all come across as callous. Just one example. If you know that the plane takes 2 hours, why put it as an hour and a half on the schedule? It fools novices into thinking they may get somewhere on time, but others by now know that they will get to know the sky at 30,000 feet a lot better while circling over the packed airports. So much for novelty. Now what is it that I need to try next? Maybe, Lalu's Garib Rath.

Pageviews Gone Mad

This pic is of my Blog's pageviews. Date April 4, 2017.

Pageviews today

4,376

Pageviews yesterday

354

Pageviews last month

10,040

Pageviews all time history

398,407

Hope it's true, but aware it may not be. Just a bot gone mad, and measuring it wrong, maybe. The details of countries from where the viewers came are even more astounding-

Country

	Pageviews
United States	964
France	908
India	892
Netherlands	469
Romania	369
Germany	359
Czechia	97
Norway	89
Sweden	89
Switzerland	86

Blog Metrics

  These are stats from my blog for the week. Using this as an example for the digital marketing course, where we discuss metrics- or measurement of content you put online for marketing purposes. Promoting your blog on your facebook page increases possible reach, as the stats here demonstrate. Headlines/keywords too play a role.

My blogs

Madhosh Kiye Jaa  ·  Overview stats

Oct 4, 2016 11:30 AM – Oct 11, 2016 10:30 AM

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Pageviews today 140 Pageviews yesterday 53 Pageviews last month 2,548 Pageviews all time history 369,879 Followers 112 Manage tracking your own pageviews

More » Posts Entry Pageviews Fifty Six and More Oct 5, 2016, 2 comments 204 Digital Marketing Course Oct 10, 2016, 1 comment 132 Benefits of Turning 53 Oct 8, 2013, 4 comments 55 You Can Never Find a Rickshaw When it Monsoons Oct 29, 2012, 1 comment 45 Corporate Chieftains Oct 4, 2013, 6 comments 44

More » Traffic Sources Entry Pageviews http://m.facebook.com/ 351 https://www.google.co.in/ 25 http://m.facebook.com 23