Gauravonomics Blog

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Today’s Desi Blog of the Day is Deep Thought by TGFI.

Here’s TGFI on herself -

TGFI is a Ph.D student, chronic procrastinator and risk-taker. Right now, her life revolves around lab, and getting that elusive Ph.D. She loves science, Bombay, people who laugh, cribbing about grad school life, arguing about women’s lib, drunken revelry and cute salsa partners.

(which reminds me that the post which had me hooked to her blog also involved a drunken night out with the girls, and much laughter, and maybe even some roadside singing. URL please Thank you, TGFI!)

Here’s TGFI on her blog -

Her blog is a personal diary with snippets about her life. Initially very skeptical about such a thing as baring your soul on the www, TGFI has gotten hooked onto blogging as a venting board and enjoys the camaraderie, sharing of thoughts and the several blog-friendships that came out of it. Her biggest nightmare is her blog being “found” by people she knows in real life and she blogs in that fear, constantly.

I’m sure all you anonymous personal bloggers have dealt with that dichotomy too - the joy of finding friends in strangers and the fear of being found by friends.

You might have noticed that I haven’t done a Desi Blog of the Day post in the last few days. That’s because I have been asking myself a few questions about the series of late.

But, first, a little background. I started my Desi Blog of the Day series because -

I found myself thinking of the joy I felt when I first discovered blogs, and realized that I still feel it when I read some blogs.

I also incorporated a BlogTipping element in the series -

by offering three compliments and one helpful tips to the featured bloggers

- because even very popular bloggers often focus exclusively on the writing part and don’t really leverage the true potential of blogging in terms of optimizing design/ usability and/ or building a community.

However, I wasn’t really satisfied with how the series was shaping up. Here are some questions I have been asking myself -

Is there any value in featuring well-known blogs all my readers are probably reading anyway?

Should I focus exclusively on new or relatively unknown blogs - ‘Must Read Desi Blogs You Probably Don’t Read’?

Diogenes at ‘Quasi Fictional Views’ asked me to contribute a piece for her ‘Fine Art of Blogging’ project. Blogging biggies like Liz Strauss and Chris Garrett have contributed to the project previously and I’m truly touched that Diogenes asked me to participate. Diogenes asked me to answer a few questions about my blogging and here’s the piece as it appears on her blog.

What is my blog to me?

At the simplest level, my blog is a repository of my thoughts and ideas. It is also a white board where I experiment with words and projects, a place where I try to find my voice as a writer, and a project that will become my purpose, my calling, or my legacy. My blog is also a medium to create new conversations with people I wouldn’t have met otherwise, and some of these conversations have already become entrenched into friendships.

Why do I blog?

I started blogging because I wanted to be a writer, to write for a living, but wasn’t sure if I had the voice or the discipline to shape it into literature. Blogging was one way to find out.

Darren Rowse wonders: what’s next in blogging?

I see more focussed, maybe even city-based, blogging networks emerging and becoming mini portals/ communities in themselves.

I’m working on one such project, and, as of now, it looks really promising. Will keep you posted on this one.

Gauravonomics is a Technorati Top 100 Most Favorited Blog now!

A big “Thank You!” to everybody who made it possible.

If you also want to make it to the Technorati Top 100 Most Favorited Blog list, please leave a comment on my Technorati Favorites Exchange which allows you to be automatically favorited and discovered by hundreds of new blogs across the world.

If you are new here, please have a look at my noteworthy posts and, if you like what you see, subscribe to my feed via your feedreader or via e-mail.

I’ll write a longer post about my Technorati Top 100 quest later, but here are some thoughts -

- Gauravonomics is the first non-tech desi blog to be on Technorati Top 100. That must mean something!
- It’s so easy to game Technorati. John Chow has made a career out of doing just that; I’m sure there are others.
- What will Technorati do now that the number of fake favorites on Technorati Top 100 Most Favorited Blog list is approaching double digits?
- Nothing if impossible. If you have the will you will find the way.
- There are shortcuts to everything. It might not feel as good or mean as much to get to your goals via shortcuts, but, often, that’s the only way to get there.
- Is it 1 down 29 to go on my 30 by 30 list?

63 67 71 74 84 90 101 125 people have already favorited me and I only need 61 57 53 50 40 34 23 more faves to break have broken into the Technorati Top 100 Most Favorited Blogs list.

A big “Thank You!” to everybody who made it possible!

If you love reading my blog, please please please add me to your Technorati Favorites now!

Quick Summary: Read about how I entered the Technorati Top 100 Most Favorited Blogs list.

Gauravonomics is a Technorati Top 100 Most Favorited Blog now!

A big “Thank You!” to everybody who made it possible.

A Little Background First: My 30 by 30 List

I made a little list sometime back - ‘Thirty Things I Want to do Before I am Thirty’ -

The interesting thing about my 30 by 30 list is that every single thing on it looks impossible today… But, if I do manage to do all thirty, what a story it will be! So, even though I know that the odds are impossible, I’m doing it anyway, because, never again in my life, will I be young enough, or foolhardy enough, to even try something as insane.

- and ‘Take Gauravonomics into the Technorati Top 100 List’ was one of the more ambitious items on my list.

My Technorati Favorites Exchange

When Dosh Dosh broke into the Technorati Top 100 Most Favorited Blogs list by running a Technorati Favorites exchange program I realized that -

Today’s Desi Blog of the Day is Random Thoughts of a Demented Mind by GreatBong aka Arnab.

Three reasons why I love Arnab’s blog -

- There are no sacred cows on Arnab’s blog and nobody and nothing escapes his razor sharp satire.
- Arnab’s headers are often laugh out loud funny.
- Arnab’s devotion to Mitunism is now legendary.

My tip to Arnab: How can I even presume to offer a blogging tip to the master himself? But, if I must, consider adding some navigation elements on the sidebar for your single posts.

So, why is Random Thoughts of a Demented Mind the Desi Blog of the Day? Because in the Hundred Must Read Desi Blogs list, he would define ‘Must Read’ for most desi blog readers.

PS: I just realized that Arnab has 1100+ feed subscribers; I’m not sure if another desi blog has half as many.

Also see - BlogTipping and Hundred Must Read Desi Blogs.

Maki at Dosh Dosh is becoming one of my favorite sources of blogging tips, along with Daniel at Daily Blog Tips and Darren at ProBlogger.

Inspired by Maki’s posts (experiment and results) on using Technorati WTF (Where’s The Fire?) to drive traffic to your blog, I have written my first WTF on (what else?) Sanjaya Malakar. The WTF is based on one of my better Sanjaya posts in which I argue that Sanjaya deserves to win American Idol because he has created more buzz than all the other contestants except Antonella Barba.

If you liked my post, please vote for my Technorati WTF so that it can get to the top of the Sanjaya Malakar page on Technorati. Even ten votes will be enough for this, so every vote counts!

And, yes, go write a WTF yourself!

Check out the new version of my Technorati Favorites Exchange which allows you to be automatically favorited and discovered by hundreds of new blogs across the world.

Dosh Dosh has managed to break into the Technorati Top 100 Most Favorited Blogs list at #31 by running a Technorati Favorites exchange program -

Create a post on your blog announcing that you are exchanging Technorati favorites. Prominently include a link to this post to indicate that there is a similar exchange going on at Dosh Dosh.

Once I’ve noticed the link via trackback or Technorati, I’ll include a link to your post on Technorati favorites in this post itself so readers here can visit your blog to participate if they want to.

While it is really difficult to break into the Technorati Top 100 Most Linked Blogs list, it is easier to break into the Technorati Top 100 Most Favorited Blogs list because you only need about 125 people to add you to their Technorati Favorites list.