Is it time to RIP blogs?

I’m what they call a veteran blogger. It’s a kinder term for Aunty. I was sacrificed at the altar of Auntydom barely a few months after I’d swirled my toes before jumping headlong into the pool called blogosphere. Four years into blogging and I now realize why the sobriquet of a veteran was thrust on me. Most blogs do not survive beyond a year or two. They flap around, create a lot of splash before they sink to the bottom with exhaustion.

It’s not easy to maintain a blog. Besides having the ability to articulate your thoughts with tolerable vocabulary combined with net savviness, you have to be your own editor, PR and publicity manager. You cannot sit on your high throne and expect readers to land at your doorstep, drawn to your “brilliance”. You have to venture out and seduce them and continue to tantalize them with quality stuff to make sure they do not leave in search for meaner and greener pastures. It’s not like a marriage where once you’ve said I do, you live happily ever after with your can of beer, iPhone and cricket. You have to constantly work out those grey cells, continue reinventing yourself, occasionally shock and challenge the living daylights out of your readers with your unorthodox views and lull them into believing you’re the best thing that ever happened to them.

To cut it short, blogging is a lot of hard work. Add to that the allure of sexy young nymphets like Facebook, Twitter, Reddit, Pinterest, Tumblr and their sundry cousins that promise you instant orgasmic fame without demanding too much of your time, commitment and grammar, it gets even tougher to stay faithful to Srimati Blogeshwari. Little wonder the restless and the impatient are happy to file for divorce, preferring the comfort of friends with benefits.

Like any other medium, blogosphere’s natural selection ensures that only the fittest survive. Like any other relationship, your blog demands your attention and love. You either chicken out or give it your all. It takes a talented, motivated individual to maintain a successful blog.

For most of us, blogging is not just our personal space where we share our thoughts with like-minded people, rant about issues that bother us, or make others laugh with anecdotes from our life. It’s our passion, something that gives meaning to our lives and makes us believe that, in some insignificant way, we are making a difference is someone else’s life. You start from scratch, with no ‘useful’ contacts, relying solely on your talent and dedication, reach out to thousands and hope what you have to say resonates for a while.

Blogging, as a medium, does not constrict you with character limits or expected formats, unlike many others. It gives you the freedom to make it your own. It’s a medium through which we express ourselves, be it through poetry, sketches, photography or satirical writing. We write what the media ignores or has forgotten about, we question societal norms, raise awareness about issues that no one dares to talk about. We are the voice of the people, we are the platform for debate. It’s just that each medium has its place and some fall by the wayside because readers or users abandon it.

As long as there are people who are looking for opinions that are not coloured by bias or hidden agendas, words that uplift or make them reminisce about the good old days, unite them in grief for a girl brutalized by a group of drunken men on a cold December night, blogs are here to stay. Perhaps as a launch-pad for an aspiring writer or a columnist, a space for a homemaker she can truly call her own as she pours her heart out and bonds with strangers, a canvas for a budding photographer, a talented cook, a fashion diva or a bored office executive who pens short stories to hold on to his sanity.

And now that Manmohan Singh has got freedom to do whatever his wife likes, I’m looking forward to reading his blog. I think I already know what he’ll call it - Musings of an Unmuted Mind.