“I believe that the greatest gift of life is life itself and the ability to live it up to its purpose without any clutter in the mind and most importantly without guilt or regret.”

-Rakesh Vanamali

WebNeeTech interviewed, Rakesh Vanamali, jack of all trades, who runs three blog namely“Redefining Oblivion“, “Imaging Oblivion“ and “Rakesh Vanamali”.

He says “I live for today, knowing not what tomorrow may bring! I’m one of those who believes that happiness is a manner of traveling and not a destination to arrive at, therefore celebrating and living life’s every moment, good and bad alike! I’m extremely passionate about cultures and people and am keen to learn languages that will help me connect with people when I visit places that I intend to! Simple in thought and outlook, I believe that the greatest gift of life is life itself and the ability to live it up to its purpose without any clutter in the mind and most importantly without guilt or regret! “

Well the whole interview is as interesting as the above lines and a must read for the bloggers and who want to start blogging.

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Blogger’s Details:

Name: Rakesh Vanamali

Age: 30

Occupation / Profession: Business Consultant

Blog name(s) and URL(s):

Redefining Oblivion – http://almostsunday.blogspot.com (Personal Blog)

Imaging Oblivion - http://almostsunday.aminus3.com (Photo Blog)

Rakesh Vanamali - http://rakeshvanamali.blog.co.in (Geo-political Blog)

Blog Focus Area(s), domain(s): Personal thoughts, Tributes, Abstracts, Poetry, Books, Life, Photography, and Geopolitical Observations.

Domains include Blogger (Personal blog), Aminus3 (Photo blog) and Blog.co.in (Geo-political blog)

Blog(s) launched on:

Redefining Oblivion – May 2006

Imaging Oblivion – December 2008

Rakesh Vanamali – Thoughts of a Geo-political observer – June 2009

I began blogging in July 2004 on Oblivion Redefined (http://almostsunday.rediffblogs.com/) which was my first blog. Eventually, I migrated to blogger in May 2006!

Monthly visits (page views) on website:

Redefining Oblivion – 1,098 visits recorded during November 2009 *

Imaging Oblivion – NA

Rakesh Vanamali – 46 visits recorded during November 2009 *

* Information provided by Google Analytics on 16^th November 2009

Do you have team of bloggers? No, not for any of my blogs!

However, I am a member of a team of bloggers who invited me to be a part of IPhrase (http://iphrase.blogspot.com/)

It is a collective effort to bring to life some very relevant issues of life. However, I offer my contribution on the odd occasion considering the many budding authors who I believe need to be given the platform more liberally!

Interest / Activities: Include trekking, music, reading & writing, nature sports, photography, philately, theater and of course blogging!

Located at:  Currently in Pune, Maharashtra, India. Originally from Ooty in Tamil Nadu with a lineage traceable to Kannur in Kerala.

Contact Details:

Twitter Id: RakeshVanamali

Facebook Id: www.facebook.com/rakeshvanamali

Linkedin Id: http://www.linkedin.com/in/rakeshvanamali

Email ID: almost.sunday@gmail.com

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Interview (Q&A Round):

Q. What motivated you to start blogging?

My first blog, Oblivion Redefined (http://almostsunday.rediffblogs.com/), which I created in July 2004 was done to primarily record happenings and places visited during my treks! I had for a long time a compelling urge to write and hence pursued the idea of blogging, which has now become a passion! Besides, the output of my thoughts, being depicted as posts and in due course being appreciated by readers across many countries was a source of immense pleasure and enormous motivation! It continues to be so even today!

Q. Tell us in detail about your blog? What area or topic you generally cover in your blog, any special reason behind it?

I maintain three blogs presently, a personal blog (Redefining Oblivion), a photo blog (Imaging Oblivion), and a geo-political blog (Rakesh Vanamali).

My personal blog primarily focuses on happenstances in my life, my thoughts, people and areas where I obtain inspiration and encouragement from. I also etch a lot of thought on self-realization and the need to be cognizant of the world around, aimed at creating a better person within me, which I believe is the purpose of life, mine at least. Firm in the belief that experiences and people contribute a great deal to evolution of the self, I focus on my personal blog as an avenue to showcase such occurrences, often with the objective to draw attention to the morals of those incidents and the lessons learnt from them! During the course of this process, I also showcase posts on inspirational people, books and incidents of history that I have come to value, for I believe that inspiration, as importantly as it has to be found from within, also needs to be sought from people, incidents and books to contribute to a well rounded personality!

My photo blog is a result of my acute passion for photography and also the need, I feel, to capture and immortalize the beauty of the places that I visit! Hailing from Ooty in Tamil Nadu, I have been repeatedly treated to the splendor of the place, which I have managed to capture during many instances, though not skillfully as a professional photographer would. Nevertheless, the ability to depict the unspoiled charm of Ooty in particular has been a matter of immense joy to me, although lately my work consumes a lot of my time and thus prevents me to pay much needed attention to this area, which I hope to make good in the coming days!

Finally, my geo-political blog happened as a result of my eagerness to monitor international socio-political events that bring nations to work together in close coordination to either address a problem or to forge bilateral ties to boost cooperation. In today’s world, the flood of such events decides and shapes many a foreign policy which nations put into practice. Naturally such policies have dualities of excellence and failure ingrained in them as a result of understanding or the lack of it, congeniality, bias, oversight, pressure, sincerity or the lack of it and most importantly commitment and will or the lack of it – speaking of both good and bad that is!

At a time when the world is facing a great deal of turbulence due to issues such as terrorism, racial discrimination, financial chaos, climate change, trade related concerns and so on, and most importantly when countries should focus on economic and social development continually, I believe that such actions of nations and people hold immense significance in shaping up exchanges countries have with one another. My observations help me gauge and understand such interactions and their resultant consequences which can be favorable, unfavorable or both in some measure!

Q. Why reader should come on your blog…What is the best part of your blog?

I believe that visiting a blog is an act of free will and to regularly do so is an act of patronage, which is cultivated over time much like gaining respect for the professional acumen that one demonstrates or for being the person that one is. Now, who doesn’t like visitors to their blogs? I do not claim to offer my readers any extraordinary or phenomenal content to dwell upon, neither am I an important figurehead whose blogs people throng! My readers mostly associate themselves with my blogs for the content that I write and also for the reciprocity I accord to their comments in my space! I also connect with my readers on a very personal level often knowing their antecedents as much as I ought to know. Anyone who loves to read the subtle undertones of the life of an underdog will appreciate the material that makes my personal space, for after all, this web blog reflects the ordinary life of an underdog and his times of joy and tribulation!

My photo blog is a collection of pictures from Ooty and some of the places I have traveled to and stayed as well! Therefore it primarily appeals to nature lovers and those who understand the importance of a well balanced environment that goes on to facilitate well balanced people! Today when forest covers and ecosystems are vastly and rapidly facing the threat of depletion, I believe that my ability to showcase good pictures of the surroundings that I live in, will serve as an example to highlight the need for conservation and most importantly serve as a timeless memory for my posterity!

Enthusiasts of world politics and socio-political structures will find my geo-political space compelling for the deep observations that are made! A great deal of research is conducted before making a geo-political post so as to ensure authenticity of the information cited in them. Moreover, I also exercise a great deal of caution not to sound political at any point of time so as to ensure that my opinions do not appear as subscribing to the outlook of any particular political organization!

Q. Which blogging platform you are using (wordpress, blogspot, bloggers etc), any reason about it?

For my personal blog, I use Blogger, largely as a result of the user friendliness that it emphasizes upon! It is also a very popular and appealing platform to use and thus I remain committed to this option.

With regards to my photo blog; after scouting around for a long time, and not being able to make a meaningful choice, I settled with the idea of using Aminus3 which I find extremely appropriate for the purpose. Today, nearly a year later, I find it a very interesting place for hosting photographs.

Having explored and settled on international offerings to host my personal space and photo blog, I wanted to explore an indigenous alternative for my geo-political blog, which is when, as luck would have it, the Indiblogger team introduced me to blog.co.in. The rest, as they say, is history and I am happy to be a part of the ‘family of Happy Indian Bloggers.’

Q. How frequent you update your blog? How many post your blog is carrying at present?

I devote a great deal of time and effort to my personal blog, which I ensure to be current at all times, meaning that I update it at least once a week, that being the least! It currently carries 181 posts!

Unfortunately, due to my work, I have not been able to devote similar attention to my photo blog which begs updation! I hope to make good of this situation by the year end and resume posting pictures of my world!

My geo-political space on the other hand has seen a moderate number of posts, but remains in a nascent stage having been established only 5 months ago! It contains 23 posts!

Q. What tools you use to increase your blog readership and bring people on your blog? Do you use social networking sites?

I haven’t used any specific tool to increase readership base, instead I have focused on maintaining quality content which is regularly updated. Though I use Facebook to promote my posts, I have not relied on it as much I accentuate upon my ability to author meaningful posts which are short, concise and genuine in the meaning they carry and intend to convey!

I find it very important to cultivate a healthy group of fellow bloggers, whose sites I regularly visit and leave my thoughts on. Therefore, reading more often becomes a symbiotic exercise which benefits me and my fellow bloggers as well! It is this model that has helped me increase my readership base, on my personal blog, which has now swelled to 4,561 visitors, spanning 82 countries, with 12,884 page views so far! My geo-political space has recorded 505 visitors from 24 countries, accounting for 105 page views!

Q. Any specific tips you have for new bloggers who want to make it in the blogsphere?

There is no shortcut to good blogging and that shall come only with the delivery of meaningful content, which is fully reflective of the passion with which the author creates posts! A number of bloggers do not pay attention to bare basics, such as spellings and grammar, which can be a big turn off for the visitor! Well structured language, always kept simple and free of errors will be quickly noticed, appreciated and promoted. Therefore it is imperative to pay attention to the basics. Also, responding to comments is very essential. They are akin to emails or letters. For instance, I’m not too sure how much you would appreciate your emails not being responded to! Comments are pretty much the same and need responses.

Q. Do you earn revenue through your blog? If yes then how a blogger should monetize his / her blog? If no, then any plans in future?

I have not monetized any of my blog and do not wish to do so, since I do not wish to commercialize my blogs. But that is purely a personal thought and should not be construed as being an advocacy to the reader to do so! Having said that, I would also state that my probability to adopt writing as a career option remains open.

Q. What are your other favorite blogs which you follow, can you list the top 5 such blogs?

Given the vast number of blogs spanning many nations and cultures, that I so regularly visit, it is very hard for me to single out a few for their excellence, merely because I consider them as favorites. Most importantly I feel it would be unfair to do so considering the effort fellow bloggers invest in making their blog a good place to visit. Every person is exclusive and so also is the blog that is linked to that person. There is certain uniqueness to blogs for they present the minds of their authors, and so to categorize them would be unjust on my part. I’d rather leave it to professional folks such as the Indiblogger team!

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