People will judge you no matter what says Sayesha

About:

Hi, I’m Sayesha from ‘Sayesha on the rocks’ (sayesha.blogspot.com). I was born and brought up in India. When I was 18, I took up a scholarship to study engineering in Singapore. I graduated with a degree in engineering in 2002, but decided to pursue my passion in publishing instead. I have been living in Singapore for the last 11 years. My hobbies include writing, sketching, traveling and Bollywood.

Sayesha

Interview

Q1: Welcome to Speakbindas. Tell us since when blogging has been a part of your life? Was there any motive or inspiration as a backbone of it?

• I have been blogging since January 2005. Frankly speaking, there is no inspirational story behind how I started blogging. I got myself a blog because everyone around me seemed to have one, and I felt left out! My first few posts were really raw (sample my first post and you’ll know what I mean!), but over the years I have found my comfort zone in terms of what I want to blog about. The motivation to keep the blog going comes from my readers and friends.

Q2: What is your blog all about? Which topics do you cover there? Is that you alone running/maintaining the blog, or have a team?

• Most of the time, I blog about observations and experiences drawn from my own life. A lot of my posts are about family, friends and of course Bollywood! I maintain my blog myself, but every now and then I get a little technical help from the hubby.

Q3: What are the present statistics for your blog, i.e. number of daily visitors, visitors geographical status etc.?

• A few years ago, I used to check the statistics of my blog very regularly, but I haven’t done so recently. I do have a statcounter account (which I just checked so I could answer this question!), and it looks like my blog gets an average of about 500 pageloads, with about 300-400 unique visitors per day.

Q4: Is blogging for you just a passion or a medium for earning too? Does it help you to earn enough cash to quit a 9 to 5 day job?

• Blogging is my hobby. I strongly believe that if I tried to earn off it, I’ll lose my passion for writing.

Q5: Who are your favorite bloggers, whom you read frequently?

• I don’t have a favourites’ list as such. Just like with blogging, I often get very irregular with blog-reading so it’s difficult for me to name my favourite blogs, but I follow my friends’ and readers’ blogs. Once in a while, I also go to desipundit.com and read some recommended blogs.

Q6: From the secret bucket of your blogging experiences, what tips would you like to share with fellow bloggers?

• One of the biggest fears of new bloggers is that they will be judged based on what they write. My take on that is that people will judge you no matter what. It’s one of the traits we’re all born with. So don’t think too much, and just do it! Another tip is that if you want to sustain your blog, it is very important to blog regularly and respond to comments.

Q7: Do you believe that blogging completes you? If yes, tell us how?

• Well, blogging doesn’t complete me (in the sense that I don’t think I’ll be incomplete if I don’t blog), but I feel that it does add something extra to me as a person.

Q8: What was the happiest and gloomiest moment of your life?

• Oh wow, difficult question. I can’t think of any moment that I can name the happiest or the gloomiest. Maybe I haven’t gotten there yet?

Q9: Say, you are sponsored to travel to 3 world destinations, where you need not to worry about costs for food, hotel or anything. Which destinations would you pick up, and why? Would you like to take someone along with you? If yes, whom?

• Switzerland (blame Yash Chopra movies!), Ladakh (a friend went there and I almost fell off my chair when I saw some of the pictures of the scenery!) and New Zealand again (my hubby and I took a road trip there a few years ago, and it remains one of my top holiday destinations). I would take my hubby with me, he’s the best travel companion ever!

Q10: Are you into watching movies? If yes, which fills your list of favorite ones?

• Yes, I am very much into Bollywood. Some of my favourite Bollywood movies are Socha Na Tha, Jab We Met, DDLJ, and the Munnabhai series.

Q11: How has blogging helped you other than money?

• I have not earned any money off my blog, although I did get some freebies once! Read about it here. But I must say that one of the biggest perks of blogging is that I have made a bunch of friends all over the world, some of whom I have never even met!

Q12: What would be the one thing you’d change about yourself?

• I am very tempted to flick Aamir Khan’s line from Dil Chahta Hai and say, “You can’t improve perfection”.   On a more serious note, I think I have embraced my flaws and if anything were to change, I wouldn’t be me, would I?

Q13: What is your deepest fear?

• Death of loved ones.

Q14: If you could meet one person, dead or alive, who would it be?

• Rahat Fateh Ali Khan

Q15: Which is your favorite television show? Favorite songs?

• I don’t get a lot of time to watch television so I don’t have a favourite show. I do keep close touch with Bollywood songs though. Aside from the oldies (I love almost all of them!), my favourite songs include ‘O re piya’ from ‘Aaja Nachle’ (hence the Rahat Fateh Ali Khan obsession), ‘Tu jahaan’ from ‘Salaam Namaste’, ‘Tere dar par sanam’ from ‘Phir teri kahani yaad aayi’ and many many more!

Q16: How much money do you have in your purse/wallet right now (including change)?

• $44.85

Q17: What is your favorite food? Any particular dislikes?

• I love roadside pani puri in India! Believe it or not, once I ate 50 pani puris by myself! I could eat pani puri for breakfast, lunch and dinner!

• I am not too fond of durians (a jackfruit-like fruit that stinks so bad it’s actually banned on public transport in Singapore!).

Q18: What’s your take on the technological advancement these days? Does it make people’s life simple or complicated?

• Well, I think it works both ways. In some ways, it has made our life simpler, and in other ways, more complicated. For example, before the days of mobile phones, people used to reach places on time. It was simple. These days, they know they can always call and say that they are running late. So even though we are in close touch because of mobile phones, running late has become a trend.

Q19: What do you think of “blogging is the next BIG thing”?

• I think this was true a few years ago when blogs were the ‘in thing’. Now I feel that they are getting outdated, and perhaps getting replaced by the likes of Twitter.

Q20: List out the 10 bloggers you believe should be interviewed by Speakbindas.com.

• Wow, I don’t think I am qualified to answer this!

Q21: Any special message you would like to share with your blog readers as well with everyone else?

I’d like to share a statement that I read somewhere and was heavily influenced by it. It helps me stay positive: “Things are never so bad that they can’t get worse.”