Sunday, September 05, 2004

Why blog?

Incredibly silly as this will sound, one of the reasons for the unconscionable delay in starting this blog (which I first resolved to do around a year ago) is this: I didn’t know what to write in the description. It was tempting to follow the example of friends who’ve said things like “this is my pulpit, my podium…and my epitaph” (sorry, Rumman) or “this blog is dedicated to life as I know it…” (sorry, Rajat) in their blog intros. But I didn’t want to dash off something that would sound too clever or smart-assed (though I confess that’s partly because it would take a lot of hard work to come up with something that would even just seem clever).

Hence the pseud-simplicity of the username jaiarjun. My full name is Jai Arjun Singh and it’s served me well in the cyber age; there are millions of Jais and millions of Arjuns but I hold the patent for the conjoined version, which means I don’t have to contend with infernal “Username taken” rebuffs each time I attempt to create an email account/choose a sign-up. (My mail Ids are jaiarjun@yahoo.com, jaiarjun@hotmail.com, jaiarjun@rediffmail.com and jaiarjun@indiatimes.com. Boring but practical.)

It was a whimsical, on-the-spot decision to use ‘Jabberwock’ as the Blog title. Lewis Carroll’s Jabberwocky, a wonderfully evocative bit of nonsense verse from Through the Looking Glass, is one of my favourite poems. It isn’t that well known outside biblio circles, nor is it so esoteric as to seem pretentious (in fact, someone else on Blogspot has a homepage with the URL jabberwock.blogspot.com). And at another level, I can always engage in some clever phonetic play by suggesting it be read “Jai-be-wacky”.

Wackiness, unfortunately, is not something that comes naturally to me when writing. I’m a bibliophile and working as a journalist allows me to indulge my interest at a professional level – through book reviews and author profiles. But it’s one of the occasional strengths, and frequent weaknesses, of my writing that it often lacks spontaneity. I break into a cold sweat when I have a 1,000-word book review to write; I interrupt the reading process to make notes and mark page numbers; I formulate sentences in my mind and write them out (with pen! on notepad!) long before typing out the final draft; and at the end of it all, I’m painfully aware that something is missing. Maybe that something that comes from just sitting in front of the computer and writing whatever comes into your head, with the knowledge that as long as your thoughts are clear the pieces will somehow fall into place – and minor restructuring can always be done later. It’s the fluid, untrammeled writing process that I’m hankering after.

And what better place to start than a blog…

5 comments:

  1. Hi JaiArjun

    I've long been a loyal reader of your blog, and today my curiosity took me to the first post you did.

    Well, 'Jai-be-wacky' was quite a clever reading of the word :D

    The reason I like ur reviews is their no-nonsense tone. You write simply, with full authority and confidence. That is what builds up your credibilty in the mind of the reader, in 'my' mind at least.

    So, I would say that your greatest strength in writing is that you don't try to be too clever :)

    I am a Software Engg aspiring to be a full-time writer. Your blog, and the kind of traffic it generates really inspired me. The day I get such numbers, I m gonna get AdSense, and write full time :D(or am i just being fanciful?)

    ReplyDelete
  2. Hi Arjun!

    This is something you already know, but I gotta say, great blog! I was surprised to see your first post; mine was on similar lines, though nowhere as good as yours.

    I'm a software engg. graduate, and I just plunged into full time writing due to my passion for the field.

    Maybe you have some suggestions for my blog; I would be honored. www.ashatampa.blogspot.com

    Keep blogging!

    Cheers,
    Asha

    ReplyDelete
  3. Online Pharmacy for Cialis, Levitra, Tamiflu, Viagra. Get Cheap Drugs online. Buy Pills Central.
    [url=http://buypillscentral.com/buy-generic-tamiflu-online.html]Order Cheap Viagra, Cialis, Levitra, Tamiflu[/url]. prescription generic drugs. Cheap pills pharmacy

    ReplyDelete
  4. Our well-bred support body of steep qualified pharmacists will help you Best Discount Viagra Pharmacy Online, consulting on multifarious health questions.

    ReplyDelete