Ricky Singh is one of the sweetest persons I have had the pleasure of knowing! As much as I know of him, there isn’t a mean bone in his body… He has tons of friends and takes the pain to keep in touch. He found the love of his life recently and I wish him years of bliss with The Cute Mrs. H! (In his words)
Blogging
Personal Info
1. Your Online Name – Ricky / Seventeen Tomatoes
2. Your Blog Link – http://www.seventeentomatoes.blogspot.com/ and after ages I tried to visit my original blog http://seventeentomatoes.rediffblogs.com that started it all, only to find that rediff discontinued that service and suddenly it feels that like a huge part of my life has gone missing.
3. Your Real Name (in case the two are different) – Ricky Singh
4. Which country do you live in – Canada
5. What do you do for a living – System Analyst for local government
Blogging
1. When did you start blogging? Now that my original blog is lost, I don’t know the exact date but sometime in 2003
2. How did you come to know about blogging? I read about it on technology sites and found it to be a way to express myself but it turned out to be much more than that. For me it was a way to meet some of the most wonderful people from all around the world that shared my thought process.
3. What was your first post about? I started writing reviews of books that I would read but I didn’t know the power of blogging. So, I used to read a book, create a blog, write its review and then next time create another blog for another book. It was when I wrote about a real life incident where a girl of Indian descent was murdered in city of Victoria, BC, Canada that I started to get comments from people all around the world asking me about it. And then I read another book by an Indo-Canadian author, Seventeen Tomatoes by Jaspreet Singh, and wrote its review that became my online blog identity and my first official post.
4. Did you refer your blog to answer the previous question? (Be honest here guys, this is not an exam!) – No, I did not as the story of my first post is etched in my memory even though the bits and bytes are missing.
5. Why do you blog (or did, if you are no longer active)? – I was reading a lot of books at the time I started blogging and always wanted to share my thoughts on the books I read. I found blogging to be a perfect place to write my thoughts. I wasn’t expecting people to read those posts and comment on them but one thing lead to another and my blog evolved from there. My blog became a place to not only share my thoughts but meet people who shared (or not) those thoughts.
6. Do you have a blog related memory you cherish? – My favorite memories are making friends from all around the world with people who I may have never in a million years met me in person. An unforgettable incident during my blogging days was when me and one of my blog friends (she is now based in UK), arranged an online blog meet on yahoo messenger on India’s Independence Day. We weren’t expecting much participation but a lot of people joined and we all sang patriotic songs. Truly unforgettable.
7. Who are the other bloggers you read? Anks (one of my favorite story writer). Most of my other blog friends have stopped blogging.
8. Which is your favorite piece of work? (A blog post written by you): I think my favorite piece will be a post I wrote where I told the love story of my grandparents.
9. A blog post by another blogger that you like a lot: Actually to me blogs was more about knowing the real person writing those blogs than individual blog posts but one story that I remember even today was the one you (Anks) wrote, Progatihttp://ankstellsherstories.blogspot.com/2005/11/progati-tale-of-progress_23.html. The characters of that story were very strong and are still etched in my mind.
10. Do people you know in real life (friends, family etc) know about your blog? Some do most don’t
11. Do they read your blog? My wife has read some of my posts.
12. 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? To each his own. I think blogging started with people writing random posts and that was the most exciting time for me. Today I visit mostly technology blogs related to my work field and that’s very good but it doesn’t hold any emotional interest for me like before.
13. For those who no longer blog, why did you leave? Most of my friends either left blogging or started blogging sporadically and I got busy with my personal and work life. To me blogging was more about people behind those posts than the posts itself, so when the people left so did my interest.
14. Anything else you would like to share? I started blogging as a way to share my thoughts and ended up meeting (mostly online) some like-minded people that became good friends in real/offline life. I also met couple of the bloggers in person and they seemed an extension of their blogs which was fantastic to know. I personally think I know a lot about some of the bloggers than friends from my other life. Blogging has been one of the most expressive parts of my life and I do intend to write again though this time it will not be about making new friends but a way to express myself creatively and maybe bring back some old friends to the joy of blogging.
PS: I really loved doing this exercise although it made me a touch bit sad to find out that my old blog is dead and buried. It reminded me of old times and old friends. A word about Anks – You have been a great friend, Anks. I met you much later than my other blog friends but it has been great knowing you through your blogs and chats and few phone calls (and a memorable phone call). Not many people may know this but you have a big hand in my life (Hint: JS). There is more than a good chance that I would have never met you if there was no such thing as blogging and yet here we are. Please do keep writing, you are one of the very few friends who still write (even if sporadically). Thank You for waking my blog memories J.