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Article that appeared in the February 2005
edition of the RITZ magazine. (Page 45)
Infinite Interests.
His is the one of the most hectic lifestyles I have ever
encountered! With activities as diverse as blogging, rowing,
running, Tsunami relief work and, of course, work, sleep
seems to be the last on his list of priorities!
Meet Kiruba Shankar, India’s oldest blogger. The word ‘blog’
is the most searched word on the Net according to a very
reliable source, my interviewee Kiruba! For the uninitiated,
a blog is a kind of online diary where you can write just
about anything, right from work to movies to general musings
about life. You then post it on the Net to share it with
the outside world.
"Blogging has become an integral part of my life,
as indispensable as brushing my teeth" says Kiruba.
"Bloggers are generally outgoing and vivacious people
who want to share their area of knowledge with others"
says Kiruba, while there are some who blog out of sheer
passion for the art of writing. Incidentally, Kribs as Kiruba
Shankar is affectionately called, has been nominated among
seven others for the ‘IndiBloggies’ awards, an honour that
is as important to a Blogger as the Oscar is to an actor,
in the ‘Lifetime Achievement’ category.
Blogging is not the only out-of-ordinary thing that Kiruba
does. Hailing from Pondicherry and now an employee of Sify
at Tidel Park, he cycles to office and back home, covering
a distance of 26 kilometers everyday! All this is apart
from getting up at 4:30 in the morning to train for the
upcoming Chennai marathon and subsequently head to the Madras
Boat Club at 5:30 a.m for two and half hours of rowing practice
as he captains the Sify Rowing Team.
Do I hear you go ‘Phew’? Well, I felt exhausted just listening
to all his activities.
Kiruba is also responsible for having arranged the first
Chennai Bloggers Meet at the Elliotts Beach and is planning
to have one every year. As one of the many do-gooders who
went to Cuddalore and Nagapattinam districts to distribute
fishing nets, he recollects a rather touching memory saying,
"At one of the villages, the head fisherman collected the
nets from us. As he was receiving it I saw tears glinting
in his eyes. Though I didn’t exchange a single word with
him, it felt like a thousand words had been spoken. That
expression overshadowed every other thank you I had heard
that day".
All this is enough achievement for the entire living years
of some people. Not so for Kiruba. He has also taken it
upon himself to plant trees all around the locality of his
house, right down the lane and used to boast of an extremely
well maintained garden of his own, one of his major time
consumers, apart from his little daughter. Occasionally,
Kiruba Shankar also delivers guest lectures in Anna University
on various subjects.
Diversified interests and the urge to excel in each one
of them, an understanding wife who in his own words provides
‘rock solid’ support, a sweet little daughter; ladies and
gentlemen, a truly inspiring disciplined guy - that is Kiruba
for you. RITZ cheers him to scale his own Mount Everest.
Does blogging sound interesting to you? Log on to www.blogger.com
and find out just how much...
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