“Never underestimate the power of your words, the reach of your blog” - Purba Ray
Purba Ray is a keynote speaker “At Blog Now, Live Forever” - The Most Disruptive Conference on Blogging, conceptualized and hosted by IndiBlogger on 31st Oct - 1st Nov, Mumbai
____________
The Blog Now, Live Forever is an event, which is carefully constructed from the ground-up to give you a front seat to amazing insights into the world of blogging!
_____________
Purba Ray - Impatience, enthusiasm, optimism.
A Bengali born in Delhi, who is unable to befriend people more interested in the number of bedrooms in her apartment. The epic list of her pet peeves includes zealous parents who are proud for no reason. She vents her angst writing damning posts on her blog and praying no one reads them. But then people do read and relate to her so much so that she has been winner of numerous awards. She has contributed articles for IBN live, NRI Section of TOI and currently blogs for Huffington post.
Sharp writing, intelligent humor, thought-provoking articles makes her happy. Being surrounded by love and positivity is the oxygen for life. She is passionate about experiencing the new, be it through travelling, food or the people she meets.
So friends and fellow blogger, here are some of her thoughts on diverse topics, in her own a-musing style: A little sweet, a little tangy and very very spicy.
About her journey:
What do you do when you suddenly have time on your hands after quitting your job? You do what you’d always wanted to but never had time for – articulate your thoughts and start scribbling on your notepad. Soon it’s a Note on Facebook that finds its way to a friend’s widely read blog.
Encouraged by the overwhelming response and generous praise, you start fancying yourself as a writer and pen a few more posts for other forums. A few months down the line, you create your own blog. Because you have no idea what blogging is, you grandly make 11 blogs for the 11 posts you’ve written that far till a helpful reader points it out for you to fix!
About her Blog: A-Musing
I wasn’t out to impress my readers with my vocabulary. I just wanted them to relate to what I had to say. All I knew was I shouldn’t be sounding preachy and talking down to my audience. So I chose to write like I was talking to a friend whose attention I had to grab with wit, sarcasm and self-deprecating humor.
I started with the safest subject – me – and poked fun at myself. Why give others the chance when you can do such a perfect job of it yourself! For some reason, people liked my personal anecdotes, my little struggles and my little victories, peppered with a bit of humor. Maybe it reminded them of their own lives, their neighborhoods, their social milieu. I don’t really know.
About India and Indian Bloggers
This might sound clichéd, but India truly is a country of contrasts. The poor and the wealthy, the modern and the regressive, the proud and the despondent, the free and the shackled. But to me, the overarching message is one of optimism, of striving to do better in life.
Indian bloggers can make a difference. At a time when news is more of subversive, divisive propaganda and news channels a constant cacophony of misplaced indignation, we can be the voice of reason. At a time when what we should be watching, reading and consuming is being dictated to us, we need to assert our freedom to decide for ourselves. As bloggers, we can write what the media ignores or has forgotten about, raise awareness about issues that no one dares to talk about.
The blogging community is yet to take their role as influencers seriously. Maybe a few of us have succeeded in influencing public opinion, done our bit of good, called out on injustices. But on a collective basis, unlike Twitter, we hardly have a presence in public consciousness. We are still viewed as a bunch of elitists who rant and indulge in token activism.
“Bloggers can be the voice of the people, we can be the platform for debate.” - Purba Ray
My only advice – never underestimate the power of your words, the reach of your blog.
On Women Empowerment
"As long as we wait for men to treat us as equals, we will never be empowered."
It’s not a fight for equality. Each gender is unique, let’s acknowledge it rather than engage in a game of one-upmanship. More seriously, though, true empowerment would mean that a woman, regardless of her social and economic station, can make her own choice. We are decades away from reaching that stage, isn’t it?
_____________
Friends and fellow blogger, I hope you have enjoyed the 5th post in the series of curtain raiser on BNLF, now let’s get ready to hear her thoughts on 'How To Face Public Reaction' in her Key Note address at BNLF event 31st Oct - 1st Nov, in Mumbai.
And welcome Purba to Mumbai and IndiBlogger. We all are looking forward to meeting and interacting with you.
TO READ CURTAIN RAISER ON OTHER KEYNOTE SPEAKERS, PLEASE CLICK ON THE NAME BELOW...
1) Christoff Trappe 2) Jeff Bullas 3) Arnab Ray 4) Preeti Shenoy 5) Purba Ray
__
Shashi
ॐ नमः शिवाय
