As March draws to a close, I mark a significant milestone: five years of daily blogging. This journey began on April 1, 2020, amid the uncertainty of India’s first Covid shutdown. While this wasn’t my first foray into blogging—my previous blog had flourished for 12 years (2000-2012) until my political work demanded full attention—what I thought would be a brief pause stretched into an eight-year silence. Only upon returning to blogging did I realise how profoundly writing had shaped my identity, my intellectual framework, and the very fabric of my life.
These five years of consistent blogging—a practice I maintain purely for self-expression—have been transformative in crystallising my ideas. The discipline has yielded tangible results: a book on entrepreneurship and over 150 essays exploring fresh perspectives in marketing. Unlike the cacophony of other social platforms, I find solace in the blog’s simplicity, unburdened by metrics of followers, reposts, or comments. My ritual is straightforward: weekend mornings at home in Mumbai are dedicated to writing, maintaining a buffer of content for at least a month ahead. A curated list of potential themes serves as my compass, ensuring writer’s block remains a stranger.
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When I restarted blogging in April 2020, here is what I had written: “I have never been comfortable with Twitter or the other social media platforms. I was one of the early bloggers. I liked the free-format style of just writing one’s thoughts without the constraints of letters or worries about followers. I wrote for myself. The empty text box of Movable Type first and then WordPress opened me up. And during these trying times of Covid-19 sitting at home in Mumbai, I decided that I needed an outlet once again. I hope to write daily. Something new everyday. I want to make the blog a mirror for my thoughts – as it once was.” And that promise (to myself) I have fulfilled!
I expanded on my thinking in a post a few months later: “When I look back on the years that I stopped writing, I realise that it was a mistake. I should never have let my writing cease, because that came at a cost of limiting my own thinking. And so, I am happy now that I have started blogging again. The same format, the same mindset. The discipline of publishing a new post daily ensures that I have to keep the writing – and thinking – flow going. For an entrepreneur, writing is a big positive because it helps clarify one’s own thinking and also communicate ideas to others. I don’t worry about whether the ideas are perfectly formed. My aim is to get them out there – because it ensures that I read and think about them. There will always be time for a new series later to improve on the initial ideas.” [August 2020]
Six months on, I wrote: “It is amazing how well the discipline of a new daily post works. I don’t wait for ideas to be perfected – because that day may never come. I write as I think – let the thoughts flow. I may have better ones a few weeks or months later. In that case, there will be another series. This commitment to a daily update has ensured that I always have a bank of ideas to write on – I am in constant thinking mode which makes me read more and which drives my writing.” [October 2020]
A couple years on, I wrote: “In today’s attention-starved world, blogging seems very old-fashioned. People want tweets and pithy LinkedIn or Facebook posts, not longer musings – all of which I am incapable of. Because I believe that making a good point requires more than 140 or 280 characters. Length is important to understand a person’s viewpoint to appreciate the point being made. Of course, the same can be said as a series of tweets, but I still prefer the undistractedness of blogs where there is no pressure to like, reply or forward. I like the simplicity and cleanness of how a blog page looks…Blogging has become a great outlet for my thinking. I cannot now think of stopping. The rhythm of having something new to be posted daily has created just the incentive for me to ensure the cycle of looking at the world around with curiosity and imagining a better tomorrow in my mind and words does not stop… I don’t think I am ever going to run out of topics to write on. We live in exciting times – so much is happening around us. And as long as I keep my own spirit of being open with my ideas and thinking, this blog will continue.” [December 2022]
Blogging has helped me think better. The discipline of publishing something new daily makes me practice what I have called “Iteriting”: “For me, iterating is about writing, making public my ideas via my blog, and then working to them better through times to come. I don’t worry about perfection in the first go. Since I am writing for myself, I like to put the ideas out there, then share and discuss with others, and think through improvements via conversations and feedback. If I don’t write, then I cannot get inputs and criticism – and without these, I cannot refine my ideas and writings. My approach thus is to create a ‘permalink’ that I can send to others so they can comment and challenge. My determination to ensure one post daily also helps; I don’t wait for the ideal essay – instead I put it out there knowing fully well that I will make a better version in the future.” [May 2023]
A year ago, I wrote: “By removing the desire to write for others, I have freed up my own thinking. Its just me and an empty page to be filled when I start. All I need to do is to get the first few words going, and then the rest of the story starts coming together. Blogging lets the imagination roam free – I can imagine new worlds, new themes in marketing, and new futures. There is no one to please, no likes to count, no comments to respond, no metrics to track. Its just me, my mind, and the ideas that flow through.” [April 2024]
AIs have helped me write more and better, as I wrote last year: “In the past year or so, one big change in my writing has been the use of AIs. I use a combination of ChatGPT, Claude, and Gemini to help with several tasks: exploring ideas, summarising my past writings, expanding and improving on briefs, helping write stories from my ideas, and preparing briefs to encourage others to read what I have written, critiquing what I have written, and adding new ideas to what I have written. Working with AIs has been the biggest change in my blogging process, and one that has helped make the process faster and better. It is almost as if I am working with a co-blogger: one who understands my thinking and works interactively with me. More than my specific voice (which is of course always there), what I want is to ensure a proper and full exploration of the ideas I am writing about. This is where the AIs excel.” [July 2024]
Blogging has become a core part of my weekend. As I wrote a few months ago: “The one routine I cherish most—and which has deepened significantly this year—is my weekend writing ritual. Every Saturday and Sunday, starting at 5 am, I dedicate those tranquil early hours to crafting essays for my blog. On average, it takes me about three hours to complete an essay, but during that time, I enter a state of absolute focus and creativity—what many describe as “the zone” or “flow.” I usually begin with a title and a rough outline, which gradually evolves as the ideas take shape. Words flow into sentences, sentences into paragraphs, and paragraphs into cohesive sections until, finally, the essay emerges. By the time I finish, not only do I have a completed piece, but I often uncover a couple more ideas or topics to explore next. This harmonious cycle of creation and discovery has become the rhythm of my weekends, energising my passion for writing and keeping the well of ideas perpetually replenished.” [December 2024]
And finally, this: “Weekends have evolved into sacred spaces of solitude. With Abhishek away at university, the rhythm has shifted from bookstore visits and dining out to something more introspective. My (still) makeshift home office has become a cocoon where writing, thinking, and reading flow together in a meditative communion.” [January 2025]
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This five-year journey is the chronicle of my intellectual evolution, a testament to the power of consistent reflection, and a sanctuary where ideas find their voice. My blog has become a living archive of my growth as an entrepreneur, thinker, and human being. As I look ahead to the next chapter of this journey, I’m reminded that every post isn’t just a collection of words, but a stepping stone in my ongoing quest to understand, innovate, and share.
That in a nutshell is the story of my blog, my ideas, and me.
