Post #200

Yes you read that right. This is my 200th published post on this blog! Quite happy having achieved this feat and rebooting this blog. I must have written about the story of this blog earlier too, but let me write it again from what my memory serves.

So this goes all the way back to 2006, when I had just finished school. That's when I first read about blogs for the first time (by the way,blog is short for Web-log). I was sold about its prospects. But internet was in its infancy at that time and I would get a connection of my own 4 years later.

Never mind, with the rise of Orkut etc. I was getting a hang of Internet. So, I also created a blog of my own around 2007-08. It was on this Blogger platform only. I don't even remember the name of the blog now, but I distinctly remember it had a light pink theme! Anyways, I wrote something like "It's my first post and great things are gonna come soon". Well those great things never came because I never wrote anything else there. 

Meanwhile my school friends started their own blogs and writing posts and poems etc. I would diligently read them during my weekly cyber-cafe visits and give elaborate comments. Then came Twitter and Google Buzz etc. and I was very active there. So we can say my blogging journey kinda started through those comments on various social platforms.

Then came 2010 and I finally got an internet connection of my own (no more having to go to Cyber cafe for limited time. Hurray!). And I immediately started my own blog. It was a slow but steady start. My initial plan was to write once a week, and while I took double that time on an average, it was still a fair start. With encouragements from friends, I was just happy having a place of my own to write.

Design wise also this blog has gone with many permutations and combinations . I have spent literally hours tweaking this blog by moving the widgets around and fibling with the fonts. Now, I try to keep the blog to its bare minimum design, with only the 'Essentials'.  I think now the blog gets out of the way of the reader and lets anyone interested read without any distraction. If you don't agree with my assessment, do let me know. I may do something it, probably.

This blog has seen many ups and down since 2010. Some years I have been on a roll, some not so much. The blog all of a sudden came to a stand still since last 3 years and I just couldn't make myself break the shackles. But hopefully, I have done it now.  

Of course any writer would like dozens(hundreds/thousands/millions)  of readers lapping up whatever she writes. I am no exception. I crave interaction. But even if no one reads or comments, I am just happy and grateful for this opportunity to bare out my mind. That's why this blog is called 'An Open Source Mind' i.e. AnOSM Blog !

I don't know what the future holds for this blog, but let's hope I get serve you a lot of interesting posts .  Meanwhile, for nostalgia sake, read the one from where the journey began. If you ever read and appreciated even a single post of mine - Thank You.

PS : Don't forget to checkout my other blogs : the one for poetry and the one for short posts. Not updated them for a while but 'sabka time aayega'. 

AnOSM Blog Story: After One Year

Story behind this blog is a long one and I would try to keep it short, just giving the relevant details and cutting off the fluff (and putting in the facts to the best of my memory).

This all started during the January of 2007. I was preparing for my engineering entrances. Around that time I got my hands on a short book about blogging. I knew just a little bit about blogs, then. I read the book from cover to cover and after reading it, I knew I wanted to have a blog of my own, one day.

But the problem was that I didn't have an Internet connection at home (broadband was just getting popular). And I wanted to have only good comprehensive researched articles on my blog (which, now I know, nobody reads!). And I wanted to have a regular set of readers who would expect consistency. I did make an account on Blogger and reserve a domain, played a little bit with the layout and so on. I also wrote 2-3 lines on the blog, promising to come back and write more but that never really came.

Then I got admission in college and other things took importance, one of my friends by that time had started his own blog and I always encouraged him to write more & more and better & better; because in a way I used to imagine, someday my blog also getting the similar kinds of reactions. In fact, whenever I came to know about any blog of my friends, I have made it a point to actually read it and comment. By doing that I was creating a ready-made followers for my own blog, without even starting it yet! (But my comments were and will always be genuine :).

Then during the winters of 2007-2008, I said "what the heck, let me start the blog, if it fails, then so be it". So, I wrote an article on the ongoing India-Australia test series (Cricket is one of the easiest topic an Indian can get to blog on!). But I never really got to publishing that one (again not having a net connection was the reason and pen drives weren't fully popular by then, so transferring data was also a pain).

So, again it went into a cold bag. Now, there is nothing more stressing than a work half done. While I got busy clearing the semesters, the thought of making the blog always remained buried inside. During the start of 2010 when I finally got an Internet connection, it was a perfect opportunity to start the blog, so I did go around in reserving a domain again and writing a short blog post.

But again there was this flaw in thinking, that my blog posts should be large and comprehensive to be taken seriously. So, once again I couldn't go beyond the first post (which was just an introduction and nothing else).

During the summer-break of 2010, I came up with another idea (I am usually good in devising ideas, it's the implementation that's mainly the problem :). The plan was that instead of writing a blog, why not go short and start a mini-blog of sort. So, I wrote this post to 8 of my closest friends. And after a writer's block of 1-2 weeks it finally started!

Writing blogs also follows the principle of inertia. When you haven't written for a long time, it is just kind of hard to start again. But once you somehow start writing (and posting) and getting encouraging responses, you are on a roll, and you start to crank up posts after posts. If you check out the archives section and see the the dates of my blog posts, you will see that my writing was stuck at least 2-3 times, but there have also been time, where I posted 2-3 times per week.

But persistence is the key. I persisted while facing difficulties and here we are! This blog is over one year old! Today I have a full fledged blog with over 50 posts and set of low numbered but consistent readers (friends :)! Hopefully, in next one year we will make it even bigger & better :)

The Blogs I (Like to) Read

(Note: This blog was originally posted on 25.02.2011. It has been updated and reposted on 30.07.2011)

I am a blogger alright, but I am an avid reader of blogs too. And if the blogs are written by friends, I really encourage them by commenting as much (relevant and no-non-sense) comments as I can. Call me a bit mean here, because I expect that generosity to be shown on my blog too :) But really even if I forget my own blog, it is always interesting to find out the thought process of friends. Here I am highlighting the blogs my favorite 'friend' blogs and also my review of these blogs.

The Path3tic Blog The TrashPan Diary (thetrashpandiary.blogspot.com, Blogger: PK / path3ticblogg3r ): I start with this blog simply because this is the blog that I enjoy the most (recently). The interface is simple but sleek. The content is new and fresh (as is the blog itself) and there is never any 'heavy' "holy-shit-my-life-is-so-path3tic" post. You sometimes get an alternative way of viewing certain things. The topics are current and related to blogger and his friends' lives and also sometimes related to technology. But still, a random person can visit the blog and expect to have a good time. The blog is also the most popular of all the blogs mentioned here because the blogger takes special interest in popularizing the posts by spreading word about it (which I think is a good thing to do).  Caution: The posts are unabashed and the language used is uncensored, which may not suit every one. (Update: Recently the blogger has moved more towards Art than traditional blogging)

My Space, My Place, My Words (anewexpression.blogspot.com, Blogger: Tushar Bharadwaj): This blog comes next because of its consistency and because this is one of the oldest blogs I have been reading (though have become a regular reader just recently). The blogger likes to comment upon anything and everything in his life and he doesn't really believe in writing the post as an 'article'. So, it can be considered as public journal of the blogger's life. But he also occasionally writes poems. Also, if you visit the blog you are sure to find a lot of experimentation being done (a good thing IMO), with images and videos being added in between the posts and the a lot of widgets been used and regular change of themes etc showing the seriousness of the blogger about his blog . He keeps on (and will keep on) going even if there are not many comments on his posts.

Bright Shades of Darkness (vksingh007.blogspot.com, Blogger: VK ): Well this blog has the potential to become one of the deadliest blogs, but alas the blogger doesn't update it too frequently. He likes to post only 'serious' topics particularly related to politics and day to day happenings in the country. Sometimes he writes poems too (which I believe are great but not the best he has produced). The interface itself is plain and you are bound to see a few spelling mistakes and typos during the posts but that doesn't take away the seriousness in which the posts are written. The length of the posts make it certain that he writes about the topics in which he firmly believes in. And the huge discussions highlight the blogger's interest in long animated debates (something I crave for in my own blog).

MidNight Sun (herowerozero.blogspot.com, Blogger: Katy / Hero Wero Zero ): Another gem of a blog but unfortunately not been updated for close to an year now. The blogger likes to use this blog exclusively to make a point as a poet. On reading the poems one can realize that he likes to experiment a lot with topics of poems and different writing styles (something I have been influenced by). The picture with every poem is also well thought of. This is the blog that I first started to read and have been reading it from its very inception (more than 4 years ago). But still only a handful of posts shows that the blogger takes each post as a separate new project and won't post it until it is 'perfect' (another thing which I hold high regards for). The black interface with yellow font color seems like the blogger's attempt to force readers to concentrate on the content more than anything else.

MyView (myview-saurabh.blogspot.com, Blogger: Sjain / Saurabh ): Like the above two blogs has not been updated since eternity which is simply a waste according to me. Only 4-5 posts make it seem like an experiment gone bad. But this blog deserves a special mention because I can relate a lot to blogger's thinking (if not the blog itself). First the blog name : 'myview' shows the inner urge to present "my view(s)" to the world which the blogger is not able to usually do, due to his shy nature and self-consciousness. Secondly, the blogger thinks of returning to blogging when the timing is 'perfect', when the settings are 'ideal' and when the things are all 'smooth'. Something that I did for such a long time that it took me almost forever to start my own blog. But the blog posts show potential so will hope for the blog to get restarted sooner than later.


Update

I had to do some updates to this post because the blog seemed incomplete without adding another name that has come up recently:

Skand Gupt (skandgupt.blogspot.com, Blogger: Skand Gupt): You need to visit the blog to know why this blog deserves a separate mention. The blogger has kind of exploded in the last 40 days or so (with updates almost everyday!). At this time, he is busy playing with his blog and doing all kinds of stuffs (writing diary, posting pics, showcasing illustrations, posting videos, changing themes and other random stuffs). But this blog is mostly a photo-log and that makes it unique, and also makes it easier to go and marvel; and then comment without taking too much time. Though, the blogger does all the work mainly for himself and his friends and isn't too keen on making his blog popular, he is always open for suggestions from everyone and not afraid to experiment his heart out.


Well I have also seen a few more blogs written by friends (or friends of friends) but have not mentioned them because of they being as good as discarded. While 3 4 out of above 5 3 blogs have also not been updated for a long time, I expect them to continue, even with snail's space. There are a few more people whom I would like to check out blogging but for now these are the posts I read and hope to read a lot more of in the future.

Which blogs do you like to read? Leave a comment.

Engineering a Blog Post

This is another "meta-blogging" post.

A lot of people are bloggers. I don't know how do they blog, how they get ideas and how they articulate them. But I think I know what's my process of blogging is.Writing a post, for me, is a process that has certain distinct phases and at least 2 passes: 

Conceptualisation: This is *the* most important phase really. What am I going to post next? What will it be all about? Will it be similar to what I posted last time or sometime before? Will it be on something that I have never blogged about or have been thinking of doing for a long time? I get most of the ideas - get ready to laugh- in the bathroom. I do get a lot of time in the bathroom to really connect with myself (no double meaning intended!). I also get a lot of ideas while travelling or taking a peaceful walk.  Now, since it's really easy to forget the ideas, I usually write down all my ideas at a central place, to consult later. So, now I usually have a buffer of ideas/topics to blog about.

Design: Once the topic of the blog is decided, the next step is to think how am I going to write the blog. What style am I going to use? How long or short will the post be? What will be the mode of communication (1st person, 3rd person etc.)? Of course, right now I am posting somewhere which has limited formatting capabilities (buzzRSH), otherwise *Now* designing the post would have included  *also includes* stuffs like indentation, fonts and colors and may be even pictures also to support the post.

Rough Draft (Prototype): Like in case of software engineering, it's not necessary for me to write the perfect, ready-to-post blog the first time. I have tried to do the start-to-end posts, but that takes a lot of time. It divides the mind into a lot of things. And I have also felt that doing everything in one go can cause certain bugs (typos etc.) to creep in. After posting the blog, I may realize that I missed something very important related to post. Updating the blog after it has been written is not what I support normally.Writing the full blog post in one go also seems like a daunting task. This can also make one procrastinate over a topic for a really-really long time (It happened with me in that Blueline post). So now, my priority is to create a rough draft of the post, putting into as many ideas as I can in one go; without caring much about editing and formatting etc. This really helps in motivating me to come back and finish the post.    

Editing/Formatting (Refining): Since I keep my blog simple, there is not much scope of formatting. But I do try to make the post easier for you to read. So I try to italicize, bold, strike things so that blog doesn't look like a torn page of an old novel. This phase also gives me an opportunity to reread the draft and make any changes to the post. Like deleting something redundant, or adding something in support of a statement; even changing the order of the paragraphs. Coming back to a topic after sometime really gives another perspective to the post and sometimes I find that the final post is completely different from it's rough draft. This phase also has the possibility of scrapping the post itself if I don't feel like I have done justice to what I wanted to communicate or what I have written is completely different from the theme of the post.

Posting (Deploying): In this phase, I proof-read my posts once to ascertain that it meets all the quality parameters and to find out any last minute errors. Believe me, it is really annoying to see a typo, or a sentence written in such a way that it doesn't make sense to the reader; it is more so to see it on your own blog. Once satisfied, I find out the place to post and then click "Publish". Done. 

But the task is not over yet...

Prologue (Documentation): After this I move on to write a prologue, a kind of head-start to the blog, for readers to know what they can expect from the blog, usually in the comment section and now on thinkXP.blogspot.com (but I do know it will be read only later, if at all).

Informing (Publicity): What's the use of so much hard-work if the people you have done this for don't know about it. So, I inform my (limited) readers in someway (mostly through messages, but later plan to use emails and SNS). 

The last phase is really like Maintenance. I wait for the comments if any, and then reply to them to 'maintain' the interest in the post until the next one comes.

You may be thinking that I have made something as simple and enjoyable as blogging, one hell of a task. But then, I pride myself to be a blogger, and it is a serious business for me. 

Finished Reading? So now help me in the maintenance part. Why don't you write something in the comment section? Appreciated :)

PS: All the things mentioned in this blog post were actually used during the construction of this blog post!

WIBWIB (Why I Blog What I Blog)

(Alright, so this is my 25th post so far on this blog. Half the distance covered :) Now irrespective of whether I complete my task of 50 (which I am committed to), I think I have proved to myself that I can also write.)  So, now probably is the time to introspect about why I blog or want to blog anyway:

1. I want to be coo!
Everyone wants; and who doesn't is not path3tic, but worse than that. I read about this thing called "blogging" a long time back, almost 4 years back at the start of 2007. I thought, "wow, how cool it will be to have a weblog of your own". Of course, every task worth doing required dedication and preservation. But we are not attracted to Photoshopping or dancing or programming, because it requires dedication but we find them coo! and dream ourselves looking coo! doing them.

2. I had something to say
OK, I am not very vocal. But that doesn't mean I have nothing to offer. Nothing goes in my mind. No thoughts cross the brain. In fact, it is quite the reverse, I think I respond to everything going on in my surrounding. But the inability to express myself was really damning. So, this blog is like my mouthpiece (think Shiv Sena's "Saamna" ;).

3. As a medium to communicate
Every time I meet a friend after long time they seem to be pretty eager to know about me. They want to know what's going on in my life. Using Internet messaging,Twitter, Orkut etc. are some of the ways to tell what's up! Blogging is a part of that long term strategy.

4. I think I can entertain
You know I find myself really boring sometimes. But that doesn't mean I want to die oblivion. I choose to be funny, if not so in real life, then in virtual second life. OK, I am not bragging that I am the funniest guy you will come around, but if the little amount of feedback I get for my posts are something to go by, you like reading it!

5. Desire to do something creative
I have another misconception about myself that I am not as much creatively blessed than my friends. I am just that guy who crams stuff and get some good marks and becomes "O holy studious RavS". And I want to challenge myself. I want myself to think I more than a book worm (which I am not anyways). Once my friend Katy (name changed due to privacy reasons) said that he wanted to change others' notion towards himself by doing new things, so he started writing poems along side painting and quizzing. These posts are somewhat inspired from that thinking.

6. To have a pet 'project'
Another friend (who doesn't want to be named) pushes me to have a project to look forward to. While the direction he prods in some other one, this blog is actually like a project to me which I am building, slowly and slowly, day by day. Some posts are so fantastic that I laugh on them myself while others look drab/stupid, which make me second guess about posting them. But, anyways, I am proud of whatever I have posted here and will continue to do so.

7. An Experimental platform
When I really do something 'on my own', I really like to experiment with it. My life itself is a big experiment for me. And this blog is an extension of that. I think you will agree that I have chosen different topics and sometimes different writing styles to post. In future I will continue to do that. I want to go beyond my limits as a limited writer.

8. To think clearly
A lot of thoughts keep roaming in my mind all the time. But they are vague. It seems like I am not sure about a few things, where I stand in my opinion about them (it happens with me a lot, during debates). So writing blog gives strength to my views and make them concrete, clear. Sometimes I get surprised reading my own posts (thoughts).

9. Typing practice :)
Alright, this is just a side bonus and not a primary motivation to blog.

PS: Well actually all above points are time pass/waste. The right reason is my competitive nature. Everybody seems to be creating a blog. I just want to say loud and clear, "Whatever you write, whatever you think; Doesn't Matter. MY BLOG IS BETTER THAN WHAT YOU ALREADY HAVE OR ARE GOING TO HAVE. PERIOD" :$

(Not so) FAQs

Who are you?

Hi, first of all, thank you for visiting this page, for finding out more about me and my blog! My real name is Ravi Singh, but I prefer to call myself RavS, so you can call it my pen name. I am a 22 26 years  old Indian. Techie by profession, blogging is my hobby.

To know more about me please read this.

What's the story behind this blog?

There is an interesting (or boring depending on how you perceive it) story behind this blog and the journey so far. While blogging remains a hobby I am quite serious about it and take it as an Engineering task.

Why this blog?

As I said blogging is my hobby and I have wanted to be a blogger for a long-long time (circa 2007 to be precise).  I am trying to develop it into a habit/passion. There are a number of reasons why I blog, you may want to read this post to know more.

How often do you update your blog?

Ideally, I would like to post at least one blog per week. But as you know, nothing in this world is ideal :) I have hit writer's block so many times I don't post for several weeks. But there have been some weeks where the blog gets flooded with posts, but rest assured this blog is really important for me.

Do you write anywhere else too?

Well, right now this is my main blog. I am also trying to develop a little blog called 1000Sher to indulge into my creative side more often. Before making this blog public, I used to write at thinkXP.blogspot.com (where you can still find some of my blog posts and associated comments). I also have recently started writing on Medium.

How can I get updates for this blog?

Thanks for taking keen interest in my blog! You can subscribe to the feeds of this blog, and get regular updates on your feed reader (my favorite is Feedly). There is subscribe by email option on first page, if you like. Or you can follow me on Twitter or G+ to get updates from there!

I wanted to discuss something related to your blog...

Excellent! I always encourage suggestions and/or criticism. Please contact me on my email id mail[dot]ravs[at]yahoo[dot]co[dot]in. Or please leave a comment and I will be happy to discuss!

What blogs do you like to read?

I do a respectable amount of reading online. I also consider myself a Life Hacker, who is constantly trying to make himself better and better, day-by-day. 
Usually I like to read about technology which specifically includes Linux and Writing. Some of my most favorite blogs are ZenHabits.net, No Meat Athlete and Zen Pencils.

I have also written a blog post where I reviewed some of the blogs of my friends.


Please feel free to use the email-id to ask any other question you have.

### buzzRSH ### (When it all started...)

This may just turn out to be interesting....

Hi, my name is RavS and I am here as a (mini) Blogger.

For God knows when, I have been thinking about turning a Blogger. And over time I have been asked by some of my friends also to share my views.

But even after having this deep interest in blogging I have not been able to start my own blog because of a number of reason:

1. Lack of time: I don't think one should start a blog if you can't commit to it.
2. Desire to write long posts: I have always thought a good blog post should be comprehensive. But then that again requires time and effort. And also, now I think a quality post need not be long but precise and interesting.
3. Lack of quality topics: I can't blabber about just anything under the sun. There has to be something that I feel connected to.

So I thought if I can't be a full fledged blogger then why not be a mini Blogger. And Buzz fits the bill once again for that. Who knows if I can develop a discipline of writing here I may one day actually turn a blogger.

So.. in this thread I will write my thoughts. I don't know what I will be blogging about. But I can assure you a few things.

1. The posts will be consistent. At least one per week.
2. They won't contain anything about me that is obvious or known to everybody.
3. They will usually be relatively short. (Nobody has time to read tonnes of text.)
4. They will only contain stuffs that are related to my life somehow or things which I genuinely feel about.
5. They will also act like diary logs.

Notes

Since this will be acting as a place for me to blog, I have to disable comments. Sorry, if you don't like it. If you have anything to say, you can always mail me. 

I am not writing here to show how cool I am but to develop a sense of discipline to write and to give words to my thoughts. 

I don't intend to popularize this thread, so I have made this thread viewable to only 8 persons (my top 8 friends according to latest rankings!). And if you can read this thread, you are one of them!! Just don't tell anyone. 

Reading this thread is completely optional for you. I don't force you but I will appreciate if you can give 5 mins to thread per week.