An Interview with Amit Haralalka of Talking Tails : A Conversation Blog

A Business manager By profession and A Successful Software professional in the past,Amit Haralalka Blogs at TalkingTails about “Things around him and whatever else that occupies his mind-space”. He blogs to discuss, have conversations & share.Talking Tails is a Conversation blog Where Amit Interacts on Various Spheres of Life and things that inspire people.

1. When did you start blogging and what made you start blogging?

Amit : I once started blogging way back in 2004 while I was still in college. But I somehow could not manage my time well enough, so I gave it up. Then, in February 2007, I started TalkigTails.in. I started blogging because I wanted to have conversations – it is always interesting to explore how and why others think about the way they do. Which is why the word – “Talking” in the title and “a conversation blog” in the tagline!

2. How many blogs do you have or you write for currently?

Amit : Apart from TalkingTails.in, I also helped set up 2 blogs:
• The Elaan Blog – an NGO dealing with Child Sexual Abuse
• The YouChoose.in Blog – An IITKGP start-up (GreenHat Ventures) to set up a blog for their portal – Youchoose.in – which, incidentally, was also baptized by yours truly!

3. What advice would you give to Bloggers who have just started?

Amit : I am no authority on Blogging. But, yes, as an evangelist the only suggestion I can offer is that if want to be a “popular” blogger and create your community of readers, then you have to take an active interest in “people” and what other people “say” in their blogs. This is very well brought-out in a post I had written a couple of years back – The WHY’s, WHAT’s and HOW-TO’s of Blogging!

4. As you have said in your blog you have a passion for Drumming. When did you Started rolling the Sticks and the High hats?

Amit : I started learning to play the drums by watching the senior band play while I was still in Middle School. By the time I came to high school I was the drummer for the school band and we performed at fests across the city. Getting into a prominent engineering college meant that I now had access to a wider audience. Along with a batch-mate and a couple of seniors, we started a band and eventually performed in some big-ticket rock music competitions. You can read about our band – Eleventh Hour in this article published in The Telegraph.

5. Please tell us something about your other projects – ELAAN’s Blog – An NGO dealing with Child Sexual Abuse?

Amit: I took the initiative to update the design and shift it from the older platform to a newer platform and use updated collaborative methods like RSS. A friend, who happens to be a professional photographer and an image-editing expert, designed the header image for the blog. The product was well-appreciated by Elaan volunteers and it continues to be updated whenever relevant information needs to be shared – All for a cause!

6. The most important aspect of growing a Blog is about Ideas. Where do you Find Fodder? Within yourself?

Amit : Blogging is about stories and any story must be told with PASSION!.I blog about whatever I do, or whatever interests me – movie reviews, book reviews and activities. So, my posts range from my experience of watching The Phantom of the Opera (The original musical!) to adventure (Sailing, Snorkeling, etc.) and from stories about communication skills workshops I might have conducted in a remote college in India to my experiences about growing a company in Mumbai.

7. If you were given the chance to change the way you have developed your Blog from Scratch what change you would implement?

Amit: I wish I had started the blog on a self-hosted platform so the entire URL-shifting was not required. SEO would be better and I could also use Java / AJAX applications on my blog.

8. Every Blogger has an Idol. Or at least have something or someone that inspired him / her in the first place. Do you have one?

Amit : My desire to start Blogging evolved as I read more and more blogs. But, I believe true validation of an idea happens when people you know and respect validate it too. One of my school friends has been blogging at Kpowerinfinity for a couple of years and a friend from college at http://suchintya.blogspot.com. It would be fair to say that I was inspired by these 2 guys!

9. Almost 90 % blogs are born only to make Money. Only a Few Succeed in the long Run. Do you think it’s the Idea to “Make Money” that kills personal vision? Or is it perfectly fair??

Amit : That is a choice that must be left to the individual blogger. In the long run, the Darwinian Theory will hold here too – only the fittest will survive!

10. Tools of the Trade? What’s your Blogging toolkit?

Amit : Wordpress & Feedburner.. Yeah – that’s it basically. I like to keep it simple!

11. Did you ever “market” your Blog ? Or did things soar from “Word of Mouth” ?

Amit : Everything requires marketing. In fact, I am managing marketing and business development activities in a company which is in its nascent stage of growth. I used to send out emails about any post that I REALLY wanted to draw peoples’ attention to. These mails would be directed at my friends, family and other regular readers of my blog. Gradually, people started liking what I blogged about and they kept coming back! So.. Yes.. A combination of marketing as well as “word of mouth” you can say.

12. What has been the most Satisfying part of growing “TalkingTails” ?

Amit : The most satisfying part of anything one pursues is recognition. I have been recognized as a prominent blogger on 2 occasions:
• November 2008: Received an invite mail and a complimentary copy to write a pre-release book review by WebChutney.com for Nandan Nilekani’s book – Imagining India.
• February 2009: Invited by The Economic Times as one of the Top 10 bloggers from every city to attend the ET – Power of Ideas panel discussion held at Times of India’s Mumbai.

13. Any future plans? Where do you want to see Talking tails in the coming years?

Amit : I want to continue having effective conversations with people – possibly use the platform to reach a wider audience or spread the word about the GOOD things happening all around – I keep writing about companies started by friends or any other special initiatives that deserve praise and announcement!

Reading: An Interview with Amit Haralalka of Talking Tails : A Conversation Blog