My first blog interview

It came as a big surprise last week when I got a mail from a Pakistani website asking my permission for an interview. Having given a 1000 interviews prior to this(in my wild dreams), I promptly send my consent. They mailed me the questions the next day. The lazy guy that I am, it took me one week to open the mail and type out the answers. And yesterday, they published it in their site. I still dont know why they selected me to be among the handful of Indian bloggers that they interviewed. Considering my past record of Pakistani bashing blogs, this indeed is quite surprising.

Here's the link to the interview-
http://www.pakspectator.com/interview-with-blogger-praveen-sr/

Pasting the contents here anyway..
Interview with Blogger Praveen SR
By The Pakistani Spectator • Mar 19th, 2009 • Category: Interviews •

Praveen.S.R
working as design engineer in an IT firm. Been blogging for the past 3 years. A bigtime rock music fan. Used to play guitar for the rock band Stoneage. A wide array of passions varying from stamp collection to the latest one, photography.
started blogging in 2005.
Blog URL-http://crusadertvm.blogspot.com

Here are the questions please:


Would you please tell us something about you and your site?
Am a design engineer by profession. I started blogging about 3 years back during my college days. My main aim then was to write on social issues. So I named it as crusadertvm(http://crusadertvm.blogspot.com), tvm being the short form for my native city. But then as I started writing more, I diversified and started posting poems, concert reports, movie reviews etc. And some months back I tried my hand at story writing too. So, now I think my blog is a masala mix of everything.


Do you feel that you continue to grow in your writing the longer you write? Why is that important to you?
Ofcourse. I've assessed how much I've changed as a writer from the time I started by reading my old blogs and comparing it with the latest ones. And the change is evident. This one fact inspires me to keep on blogging regularly. You can never know where you will end up.


I'm wondering what some of your memorable experiences are with blogging?
Many of the memorable experiences happened online in the form of appreciation mails from unknown people. Then, there were sometimes strangers approached me in public places and asked about my blog. These are the things which make blogging worthwhile. But my most memorable incident would be an unpleasant one. I had written this adjective laden post on a Swamini who disrespected our national flag. The next day I got a barrage of comments and mails from her followers. There was this one comment from a die hard follower cursing me for the sin I committed. Me and my friends had a hearty laughter. But on thinking more on it, I was apalled by the naiveity of some of our modern human friends. Another interesting incident was when one of my posts was copied word by word by a guy and was found out by one of my readers.


What do you do in order to keep up your communication with other bloggers?
The communication happens mainly through the comments section in the blogs. Prompt replies to the comments can help in maintaining a good relation with your regular readers and will bring the new readers back to your blog. Then there are the other communication tools like twitter, orkut etc through which I try to maintain contact with other bloggers and readers. I also attend the blogger's meets that happen once in a while. That serves as a platform to introduce your blog to others and also get introduced to many talented bloggers.

What do you think is the most exciting or most innovative use of technology in politics right now?
To tell you frankly, there's nothing exciting for us common people in politics. If ever the politicians use sophisticated technology, its mostly to hide some of their own wrong doings. Off late, we've seen many politicians turning to blogs for their election campaigning and also to justify the bad decision the they've made. So, in this regard I've only negative things to say.

Do you think that these new technologies are effective in making people more responsive?
People's behaviour is not related to advancements in technology. To prove this, you just have to think of the scenario in olden days. How a person behaves depends more on his own character rather than any external factors.

What do you think sets Your site apart from others?
I guess the variety of subjects I tackle could be pointed out. But, setting my site apart from others was never an aim, its just about voicing my opinions. I dont consider standing out from the crowd just for the sake of it, in my agenda.

If you could choose one characteristic you have that brought you success in life, what would it be?
Laughing at sorrows, smiling round the clock and populating my mind with positive thoughts. That makes 3, but I can't leave any one out.

What was the happiest and gloomiest moment of your life?
Happiest moments are so many- seeing my parent's beaming faces after I got
my 1st job, meeting my idol A.R.Rahman, then playing on stage with my old college band, spending time with friends.
Gloomiest moments- I delete them from memory as soon as they pass

If you could pick a travel destination, anywhere in the world, with noworries about how it’s paid for - what would your top 3 choices be?
Since am away from home now, I have no choice but to go home. I just love my home.

What is your favorite book and why?
Ayn Rand's Fountainhead. The way it celebrates individuality makes it my favourite work. Howard Roark also happens to be my favourite character.

What’s the first thing you notice about a person (whether you know them or not)?
body language, which can serve as a key to know the person's attitude.

Is there anyone from your past that once told you you couldn't write?
I still get comments from people I personally know that I write long boring posts in my blogs. To them, I only have one answer 'I write for myself. Am not forcing anyone to read'.

How bloggers can benefit from blogs financially?
I still haven't explored that part of blogging. I do this because writing is a passion for me.

Is it true that who has a successful blog has an awful lot of time on their hands?
Not true always. I do squeeze in time in between my busy schedule to write and also to read my favourite blogs. But one thing is true, you are never too busy to miss blogs.

What role can bloggers of the world play to make this world morefriendlier and less hostile?
In blog world everything is friendly except for some odd fights. But in real world, things are different. Small changes in attitude can be brought about by idea exchange between people of two waring factions or countries. But to expect world peace from blogging is an Utopian idea.

Who are your top five favourite bloggers?
Many are there..
Chriz, Kartz, scorpiogenius, Usha M'am, Hari, Rockus, wetspark, vimmu...

Is there one observation or column or post that has gotten the most powerful reaction from people?
As I mentioned before, the post about the swamini was very controversial. Then, there was this post on an old local politician who disrespected Major Sandeep Unnikrishnan, the commando who bravely laid down his life during the Mumbai attack last year. It even brought me open threats from some well known political groups.

What is your perception about Pakistan and its people?
Now, this is interesting. I am a person who considers the ordinary citizens of Pakistan on par with the people of my country. I love the Pakistani musicians like Nusrat Fateh Ali Khan, Junoon and strings and also film makers like Shoain Mansoor. But, at the same time I strongly disagree with the anti India propaganda spread by the Pakistani government and the extremist groups. I mince no words in saying that I hate them with all my heart. The day on which these unwanted elements are thrown out, I will shower my whole hearted love on Pakistan.

Have you ever become stunned by the uniqueness of any blogger?
The list is big and I dont think its good enough to mention one blogger.

What is the most striking difference between a developed country and a developing country?
The developed country thinks that its a developing country and the developing country thinks that its a developed country. Thats why the list of developed and developing countries always remains the same.

What is the future of blogging?
I think we are already in the cutting edge of blogging technology with concepts like moblogging which lets you blog on the go.

You have also got a blogging life, how has it directly affected both your personal and professional life?
It has given me a set of many great friends and ofcourse haters too. In professional life also it plays a big part since my company has its own internal blogging platform. That has brought me more exposure, more readers, more friends and a wider world view.

What are your future plans?
I live in the moment. Planning is for the thinking lot. Thinking leads to worries and worries leads to sorrows. So its better to worry less, think less and plan less. Just enjoy life as it reveals itself.

Any Message you want to give to the readers of The Pakistani Spectator?
A big Hi from India to all those wonderful people living amidst the peace shattering extremists. We are all with you in the fight against terrorism.

Best regards,
Ghazala Khan
The Pakistani Spectator
http://www.pakspectator.com


So that was my first interview as a blogger. :D

your crusader Praveen