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Patrix is an urban planning doctoral student at Texas A&M, the founder of DesiPundit and a self-confessed Shyamali Malakar fan. Patrix blogs at Nerve Endings Firing Away.

I have already written about why I love Patrix’s blog -

- Patrix has an intuitive understanding of how conversations are created on blogs, and, as I try to understand the nature of online conversations myself, I find myself looking up to him as something of a guru.
- Patrix has an innate curiosity about technology and popular culture and the ability to write from an enthusiast’s perspective, something any blogger would do well to emulate.
- Patrix is one of the most generous people I have known, online or offline, and, via DesiPundit and his own blog, he has probably done more to promote desi blogging than anybody else.

Patrix belongs to the second most widely seen species of desi bloggers, the doctoral-student-blogger (the first, of course, is the journalist-blogger) and I’m sure that you’ll meet many more bloggers from this species in the ‘Desi Blogging Cafe’ interview series.

Jamshed Velayuda Rajan, or Jammy Rajan, is based in Chennai, works for an Internet major, blogs at Ouch My Toe and is one of India’s funniest bloggers.

I have already written about why I love Jammy’s blog -

- Jammy manages to do that rare thing - being personal and funny at the same time - and every post on this blog is laugh out loud funny.
- Jammy has one of the best 404 error page I have seen on a desi blog. Reminds me that I have to work on mine.
- Jammy does innovative little things to engage his readers, like offering a Best of Ouch My Toe PDF file for download, asking readers to pick a topic for him and putting subscription and archive buttons within his posts.

Jammy, I feel, is the perfect follow-up to Jai, because of the contrasts between them in terms of their backgrounds, their content and their style of writing. It will be my endeavour in ‘Desi Blogging Cafe’ to explore this diversity in desi blogging.

Q. When and why did you start blogging? Has the reason why you blog changed over time?

Jai Arjun Singh is a New Delhi-based freelance writer/ journalist/ blogger. Jai works part-time with the Business Standard newspaper, blogs at Jabberwock and is mainly known for his erudite reviews of books and movies.

I have already written about why I love Jai’s blog -

- Nobody else writes as prolifically or as beautifully about books and movies as him.
- His interviews are more personal and insightful than any other I have read on desi blogs.
- He manages to make even his rants read like literature.

Jai, I felt, was the perfect person to start off the ‘Desi Blogging Cafe’ interview series because he is the perfect example of the desi A-list blogger/ journalist, a species you’ll often come across at ‘Desi Blogging Cafe’.

Q. When and why did you start blogging? Has the reason why you blog changed over time?

A. I started in September 2004. Initially I thought I would use it mainly as an online “storehouse” for some of my published articles and reviews, for easy access and reference. But over time that function changed: I found myself increasingly writing fresh things purely for the blog, whether in the form of personal posts, general observations or notes about books, films etc.

Yesterday, I announced that ‘Desi Blogging Cafe’ was open for business -

‘Desi Blogging Cafe’ is open now! Do walk in tomorrow for (virtual) coffee and (real) conversation with your favorite bloggers!

- and mentioned my ‘eleven Desi Blogging Cafe questions’ -

Sometimes, I’ll ask them my ‘eleven Desi Blogging Cafe questions’. Sometimes, I’ll put aside these questions and ask them other questions. Sometimes, I’ll let you ask them questions. Sometimes, I’ll let them ask me questions.

If you are wondering what those ‘eleven Desi Blogging Cafe questions’ are, here we go -

- When and why did you start blogging? Has the reason why you blog changed over time?

- What do you blog about? Has the focus of your blog changed over time?

- How do you think people describe your blog to others who don’t read it? How would you like them to describe it?

- How do you think people describe you to others who don’t know you? How would you like them to describe you?

- Is your online persona different from your real self?

- How important is your blog to you? In what ways? Why?

Yesterday, I played a trick on you that TV channels all over the world have perfected -

I’m pleased to announce that I have finally found a format for the ‘Desi Blog of the Day’ series I am fully satisfied with. It’s intimate, it’s interesting, it’s insightful, and it has never been done in desi blogging before.

And now that I have your full attention, I’ll leave you precariously balanced at the edge of your chairs, until tomorrow.

Watch out for Desi Blogging Cafe!

Today, instead of teasing you more, I’ll give you - (music building up into a crescendo) Desi Blogging Cafe (loud applause)!

Have you ever wanted to know more about your favorite desi bloggers? Have you ever wished that you could ask them how they started blogging, what they have learned from blogging, even how much money they make from blogging(!)? Have you ever wondered if they are as interesting in real life as they are on their blogs?

If the answers to those three questions is ‘yes’, you would love ‘Desi Blogging Cafe’! Because, at ‘Desi Blogging Cafe’!, you’ll get to know your favorite desi bloggers like you have never known them before!

As regular readers of my blogs would know, my ‘Desi Blog of the Day’ series has had severe identity crisis issues.

First, there was ‘Desi Blog of the Day’ version 1, where I featured one desi blog everyday, gave three reasons why I loved the blog, and offered one (hopefully) helpful tip to the blogger. I did the series for about two weeks and then realized that I was not doing enough with the series.

Then, there was ‘Desi Blog of the Day’ version 2, where I included a small bio of the blogger and three of their best posts to give you a sense of who they are and why they blog, apart from the three reasons why they are included in the series and my blogging tip to them. However, after doing only two posts, I realized that I wasn’t satisfied with that either (did I mention that I’m a perfectionist?).

So, I stopped the series for almost two weeks, to fine-tune the format.

I’m pleased to announce that I have finally found a format for the ‘Desi Blog of the Day’ series I am fully satisfied with. It’s intimate, it’s interesting, it’s insightful, and it has never been done in desi blogging before.

Today’s Desi Blog of the Day is Saffron Trail by Nandita.

Here’s Nandita on herself -

Nandita is a medical doctor by qualification, a a nutritionist and cook by passion and a freelance writer by occupation. She writes for Men’s Health - India and Complete Wellbeing, among many others and she is one of the group bloggers at Daily Tiffin - a family and lifestyle blog. Nandita dreams of starting a little home-style restaurant someday soon and her husband has already reserved the position of CTO (Chief Tasting Officer).

Here’s Nandita on cooking -

Cooking is like meditation. When I stand in front of my wok, I just put in the ingredients instictively. My heart tells me what will taste good and what won’t. And I cook with my heart. When one does that, the results are usually good. I believe in healthy cooking - low on salt and oil, fresh ingredients and spices, simple and quick procedures that help us eat freshly cooked meals at any time of the day. I eat to live so that I may live to eat!

Here are three reasons why I love Nandita’s blog -

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.