"Ohm: Hari Sree Ganapathaye Namaha: Avighnamasthu"
On 9th October 2007, this blog was started as "Raja's World". Later on I rebranded it as "Rajadharmam"
I was living in Kuwait, and blogging was just catching on. Some of my MBA students encouraged me to write a blog. I had no idea how to, or whether I could.
I promised them in early October 2007, I will do the due diligence and commence blogging by 1st January 2008.
I was not in the habit of writing anything other than Official Mails then. And my Non Official writing was very bland to say the least.
I was envious of my Sister-in-Law's brother Mohan (who was just a few years elder to me, but died very young) who could express himself wonderfully in flowery Malayalam. I still remember with awe how he sounded in a letter describing the loss of a neighbor. My father could barely speak good English, but his writing skills were legendary. My case was the opposite. I expressed pretty well while speaking, and was quite humorous, but was too staid when it comes to writing. My father, who died in 2004, often used to chide me that my letters sounded like official mails, and he felt offended.
One of the reasons I asked for time with my students to start blogging, was that I was lacking in Self Confidence.
On 9th October 2007, I was looking at the various blog hosting sites - the popular ones were BlogSpot and WordPress. I liked BlogSpot, and got myself registered.
Saraswathi Pooja was still 12 days away, but on a whim, I wrote my first post Harisree Ganapathaye Namaha: Avignamastu
I had no idea how many posts I would or could write, and I never imagined I would still be blogging 10 long years down the line.
I used to write almost a blog a day in the initial years, but later on the frequency of blogging dropped. These days I blog sporadically, once in 10-15 days, if at all.
What is surprising is that, even today, I get an average view of 100 blog posts per day, which is amazing. A quick look at the Blog Statistics show that my readers are spread far and wide - India to USA to Russia to South Africa to Middle East. I take this opportunity to thank all my readers over the years. I get encouraged to write a blog whenever I see the Blog Stats. It is as if "You guys out there are loyal to me, and I should not let you down by not blogging".
I consider it the blessing of Ganapathy, Saraswathi Devi and all my Guru's that I have been able to post more than 1200 blogs over the past 10 years.
Good batsmen mark a fresh guard on reaching a milestone like a Century. I too have to do that.
On the blog completing 10 years, I rededicate myself to continue blogging for years to come.
I take a moment to bow my head in devotion to the Gods, my Gurus, my Forefathers and to my Readers.
