I have met very few people as brave as Akshaya. He does complete justice to his on screen moniker; for he truly is a braveheart. Here is a guy who loves art and worships cricket. Or is it the other way round? He has an engineering degree from IIT-K and was well settled into a job when he gave it all up and decided to pursue his love for art. He travels and clicks amazing photographs, writes brilliantly and dissects movies and books at levels I cannot even begin to imagine. Think old world intellectual, who does not give a damn about the rat race. Akshaya truly believes in living life and enjoying all its pleasures. I think I became acquainted with him when he commented on one of my movie reviews. I was writing Progati those days and he gave me excellent feedback for it. I knew there is something lacking in my writing and he pointed it out for me. No, I am not about to admit my weakness here. This post is about Akshaya, not me. So hear it on, from the horse’s mouth…
Personal Information
1. Your Online Name: Braveheart
2. Your Blog Link: Braveheart-blog.blogspot.com -> leftrightleftwrite.wordpress.com
3. Your Real Name (in case the two are different): Akshaya
4. Which country do you live in: India
5. What do you do for a living: Live off what programming I inflicted upon myself a few years ago
Blogging
1. When did you start blogging? July 2004
2. What/Who introduced you to blogging? Abhaya (abhaga.blogspot.com)
3. What was your first post about? A violent incident at IITK, my alma mater, which I wanted to take a position around.
4. Did you refer your blog to answer the previous question? (Be honest here guys, this is not an exam!) No. I remembered that for otherwise I wouldn’t have made the blog itself. I needed a blogger id to participate in an ongoing debate on someone’s blog. The comment became the blog and then it acquired its own momentum, appetite etc.
5. Why do you blog (or did, if you are no longer active)? I had time, opinions, an aspiration/ability for creative output and a way to socialize without intervening, composing an opinion rather than just dishing it out. And of course, engaging with what was a fast-growing sphere of knowledge, exchange and transactions.
6. Who are the other bloggers you read? Abhaya, Ragini, Ramya, Ankita, Abhishek, Sen and many more.
7. Which is your favorite piece of work? (A blog post written by you) Cannot quite remember them all as Iost the entire blog but it would be a letter I wrote as if I were the father to a daughter. It was quite an emotionally rewarding experience.
8. Do people you know in real life (friends, family etc) know about your blog? Several of them do, many who became friends later, after I lost the blog, don’t.
9. Do they read your blog? It doesn’t exist anymore but they sure used to. My blog persona, it could be said, had its own identity.
10. What do you think of the recent blogging phenomenon of category blogging like ppl who blog about technology or fashion or travel or food only? I don’t think much of it as a blogger if it happens to be the only blog one writes. As a reader, I might like reading some of these blogs, if I happen to feel our tastes match to some degree, for utilitarian purposes. I quite like it when one main blog addresses it all, plays with the unpredictability of what the next post would be about and shows a good range of interests of the blogger.
11. For those who no longer blog, why did you leave? My blog was deleted. Later I did set up a new blog but life changed, energies find other outlets and writing quality demanded a more important platform, more meaningful readership, and a deeper engagement with issues.
12. Anything else you would like to share? My blog told its own story. It documented without my willing it, my journey with pen in English language. It marked my formative years as a writer, enthused me to become better, and have a wider reach. It helped my eagerness for transformation as not only a writer, but as a thinking person who connected to the things happening around. Later, when I would look at my old posts, I often found them quite silly indeed. But it always told me how far I had come. It was an inspirational journey during which my earlier reflection was arrested in the archives. It meant a lot to me.