14 years later...

I created a blog with the same name back in 2007. It was a time when blogs had already started evolving from personal journals to massive community engagements. But I was oblivious to all that. I was just happy that I could have a web presence for free. It was a prestige thing, too. Not many people owned a blog (even less read one). 

It was a simpler time-- people used to blog about things they put on facebook now-- hobbies, baby or cat photos, movie reviews, recipes, haikus, whining about school or work or government. My blog was no different. It was chock-full of pointless ramblings, failed attempts at creative writing and fragments of (laughably simple) MATLAB codes-- all to impress friends. Then along the way I found out that people were making money from blogs, so I started putting ugly adsense banners in my blog and posting nonsense Buzzfeedy things to boost traffic ("Ten online games you cannot resist"). It did not help, just defaced my blog and ruined my inner peace. Meanwhile I got engaged in Bangla community blogs like Sachalayatan and got addicted to the instant gratification of community interaction. Then came Facebook and Twitter, to claim the control of my online life. I made new friends-- successful, sophisticated (and published) writers, and started feeling a bit ashamed of my stupid blog. At some point, I deleted it.

Now looking back, I feel kinda bad that I deleted it. It was stupid, but it was a space where I could be on my own, not bothering about likes or retweets or even grammar.  Just a blank page with words written on it. My words. I miss that. Maybe I am finally getting disenchanted from the adrenaline rush of social media as I grow older. Anyway, just giving it another shot...