Thought Overflow

I was reading an article which appeared in the newspaper a few days ago, about how there are now a million Indian bloggers. I’m not sure how they arrived at this statistic, but I reckon it roughly translates to about 1 in every 100 people having a blog. Not too bad a statistic, considering that only about 5% of the population in India uses the internet. That means that statistically, there is an average of one blogger out of every five internet users in India.

The next question, I guess, is how many people read these blogs. There is probably no way to get a more or less accurate statistical picture. I know for a fact that celebrities’ blogs (like Aamir Khan’s and Amitabh Bachchan’s blogs) receive thousands of comments per post, but for the average blogger like me, with nothing important to blog about, one would be lucky to receive the one odd comment every now and then. So why blog?

For some people, it’s a great outlet of expression. For many others, it’s just an online journal to chronicle their ordinary lives, and let friends and family take a peek if they want to. For many others, the idea that they’re putting down feelings, thoughts and opinions on a public domain like the internet where someone (anyone) might read them and respond is an exciting prospect.

I do it because I like the idea of blogging. I like putting my opinions and thoughts down in words. I like writing, and I’d like to think of myself as a good enough writer with a lot of potential to improve. How do I improve? Simply by writing more. The more I write, the better I get at expressing myself. Do I get a lot of readers? Actually, no. What drives me is very simply the idea of an invisible audience. Every blog post can be metaphorized as a stage performance; I am the director, and my words and sentences are the actors. The parts they play are in my hands, and the readers of my posts are an audience. A faceless, nameless group of people…quite probably, imaginary. I know of very few people who read my blog regularly, and of even fewer who bother to comment. Where, then, is this invisible audience? I don’t know, but I can tell you it doesn’t matter. When I write, I like thinking that someone’s going to read, because that’s what drives me to write better.

To the one million Indian bloggers, cheers; and to the invisible audience to which this blog is dedicated, I tip my metaphorical hat in appreciation.