Art of Blogging

I have been interviewing people in real life and online for some time now. “It is nice to find oneself, at the opposite end of an interview – for once,” writes a friend who has sent me these questions.

Q: How did you start blogging?

A: For me blogging started as a leisure pursuit and has now become way of my life, creative activity and means of socialization; my passion. Yet “I am neither geek, nor nerd. I am not a hacker, a phreaker, a programmer or any variety of technoid dweeb. I am a writer. Weblogging is a medium for capturing my work and for publishing it,” to quote Frank Paynter.

Q: Is blogging science or an art.

A: Yes, blogging really is a fine art (in addition to being a science and economics). Why? because blogging is writing and writing is a fine art; one of the finest genera that have been changing lives of people and making difference since words and writing were invented. I sit beside a connected computer like, say, a poet who sits while conceiving couplets.

Q: How do you see life without blogging, chatting, emailing — without internet connection at all?

A: “Having to survive without the Internet when every one seems to be living in the cyberspace and achieving is a new king of anxiety. It is very hard to perceive life offline especially for those who have integrated Internet in their lives and work,” but I still can live when I have to. I wrote about life without the internet in dawn.com column. It concludes, “There is an equilibrium point between the virtual and real life though it is getting difficult to point out where that point is. Life online is difficult but life can be much more enriching for those who are online, can take control of the Internet and are not mesmerized by its rhythm.”

Q: Tell us the most wonderful thing about Pakistan.

A: Pakistan is one of the best travel destinations in the world – desert expanses in Thar and Cholistan, Lush green plains in Punjab, mighty mountains in Northern Pakistan and Chitral, so many unexplored and just to yourself places, what else. Start of some of the world history can still be traced down to Pakistan – Indus Civilization. Moreover, Pakistan being one of the cheapest countries in the world is best for budget travelers. Which is why it is said that Pakistan has a lot to offer to every one; not only to travelers, hard core adventurers, mountaineers, and rural tourists, vacationers but also to anthropologists, archaeologists, and researchers?

Q: Does fiction (art) imitate life or does life imitate fiction (art)?

A: Neither. Art is a reflection of life. On the other hand life takes inspiration from art.