Blogger's Park

When Jamshed Velayuda Rajan started his blog 6 years ago he did not know he would be christened as “India’s funniest blogger”. Jammy (his online name to fame) cleverly juxtaposes humour and wit to describe the mundane process called “life” in his blog Ouch My Toe. He managed to squeeze out time from his busy schedule as the Business Head (UGC Products) at Ibibo.com to answer a few questions. 

Tell us something about yourself

Perhaps you believe in asking the tough ones first. I am the average Indian that you pass by on the roads and later wonder, “Is he the guy who owes me Rs 1000 from the pub?”.

But on a serious note, I am a small-town-er at heart, who at 33, still believes in God and fate but shies away from accepting for the fear of being laughed at by his peers. Believes that he has been very lucky in life and but for one small incident (which I will save for later) would have been shepherding goats & sheeps and milch cows in some village in south Tamil Nadu.

Perhaps that’s why nothing matters more than cracking a joke, and carrying on.

Tell us something we do not know about you

After three years of going around with Rekha, who would eventually end up being my wife, I decided to part ways and look for a new girl in my life. She agreed.

After a month or so, when I came to know she was going to meet a potential suitor who worked with Lintas, I drank seven beers and gave 21 missed calls on her mobile (in the half hour she was with him). Next day, I was at her hostel pleading her to marry me…which she gracefully agreed to.

It has been four years since our marriage….I wonder if I should have just had one more beer and hit the bed that night.

What prompted you to start your own blog?

Blogging was new and everybody was indulging in it. It suited me because I had always been into short stories, satire, poetry etc. Instead of begging people to read what I had written, I started posting them on my blog … and soon there were comments. There after, it was just the comments that kept me going. It is now more than five years … and trust me when I say this – in the last five years, if there was one act of mine that I am glad about, it is that of starting the blog www.ouchmytoe.com.

What was going through your mind while naming the blog “Ouch My Toe”?

When I started the blog I knew it was going to be a funny blog. Here is the concept behind the name Ouchmytoe: “The world is crowded and everybody wants to survive. In this rush, when they stamp on your toes unintentionally, there is no point creating an issue …instead, just say ‘Ouch my toe!’ and keep going. And this blog will help you do that.

How do you juggle your work schedule and blog?

Wish I could juggle them as well as you think I can. My last blog post on www.ouchmytoe.com was 25 days back! Though I have to agree that this has been the longest break I have taken between two posts, in the last four years. Finding time to blog wasn’t difficult till about six months back … work at Ibibo.com has increased many folds in the last couple of months. A few days back, I was made the Business Head for all UGC Products at Ibibo.com; and the biggest of challenges has only begun. Let’s see how often I can blog now.

What inspires your posts?

I would call myself an imaginative narrator. I always narrate a real life incident and in the process add only four more elements to the story board:
          - Exaggeration
          - Humor
          - Real life personalities
- My ‘loss’ in the end

Most memorable user feedback

More than user feedback, these are three incidents that allowed me to continue writing about my wife and her parents on my blog and thus keep it entertaining.

Incident 1:
It was 2005 and we were at a railway station trying to book tickets. I was in the line and Rekha was filling in the form some meters away. A gentleman walked up to her and asked:

“Are you Rekha?”

“Yes!”

“Are you Rekha Rajan?”

“Yes!”

“Are you Jamshed V Rajan’s wife Rekha?”

“Yes. But who are you?”

“I am blah-blah, I am a big fan of your husband’s writing. Is he around?”

Incident 2:
Rekha is getting into the office lift in Khivraj Towers in Chennai and another lady almost barges in. Apologises. Keeps staring at Rekha for a while. She gets out on the 2nd floor. But just when the lift is about to close, she turns and stops the door from jamming and asks: “I couldn’t help asking…are you Rekha…Jamshed’s wife?”

Before my shocked wife could say anything, the lady says: “I saw your marriage pictures on his blog. Tell him that he is an funny story teller.”

Incident 3:
Year is 2007 and Rekha is attending a family marriage in Mumbai. After ten years, she is meeting one of her cousins, who like most Keralites, now stays in Dubai and has come down for marriage.

“Rekha, I heard you got married and all…?”

“Yeah, Shalini. I ended up marrying a Tamilian.”

“Wow. What is his name?”

“Jamshed…though his friends call him Jammy.”

“Wait a sec…is this Jamshed Rajan? Are you the Rekha I have been reading about on his blog all these days?!!!”

Initially, Rekha used to be very upset that in the name of humor I was painting a sorry picture of hers. After these three incidents, she has started loving the pseudo-celebrity status.

You used to doodle before you got married. Are you planning on re-starting your cartoon column?

I would be happy if I can keep the one-post-a-week regularity on my blog. But then, one can never know…our daughter Rhea is already 20 months old and will soon be holding a pencil…wouldn’t that be a good time for me to start doodling too?

What are your plans for the OuchMyToe blog?

One day Ouchmytoe.com will definitely be a book. That’s for sure. What is not sure is…will it be a best seller?


3 Tips to budding Bloggers

I have been associated with ibibo’s blogging platform @ http://blogs.ibibo.com  for some time now and thus know the mistake most new bloggers do.

• Don’t burn yourself out as soon as you start blogging. Take it easy.
  
• Read a lot of other blogs. Being obsessed with your blog is good but consuming is as much a part of a blogger’s life cycle as creating is.
  
• You don’t start making money via blogging from day one. So await your turn….get a solid reader base before you start putting in those Google ads.