Blogger Interview # 1 : Pramathesh Borkotoky

I started my Interview section with Pramathesh Borkotoky. 

• Can you tell us a little about yourself and your blog?

Hello,  myself Pramathesh Borkotoky and the Executive Editor of Fried Eye, a variety e-magazine, and also the admin of Bamboo Lounge. Bamboo Lounge was formed to improve our writing skills and we always tried something new to push our limits in writing. 

• Are you a full time blogger? How did you get into blogging and why?

Calling myself a blogger would be a wrong thing. I started as a blogger and was totally clueless in blogging and it was only when I joined Bamboo Lounge, I was known by all and learnt the tricks of the trade. Before Bamboo Lounge, I used to write and my readers were totally different, which I did not enjoy as I was intellectually very young to the people of that caliber. I was not growing as Internet was a luxury at that time. After I got my first job, I started blogging again afresh and Bamboo Lounge happened in between.  Joining Bamboo Lounge helped me to understand how much a community is important. They are like a family who encourages day in and day out until you are somebody.

• If someone was interested in blogging, what would be a few things you would suggest?

I'm no one to advice. But, yes Blogging is a serious business. You have to give your soul and blood to keep it alive. Otherwise it is just a casual online documentation of your sporadic thoughts.

• How do you build a community around a blog and social media?

A part of the question has already been answered in the previous question.  Bamboo Lounge is itself a Social Community.  Just like Bamboo Lounge has its own needs and requirements to hold on cohesively, every social community, be it facebook, twitter, indiblogger, BlogAdda or any other forum, has their own needs. You have to understand the way it works and you will have to work according to it. You will have to have a one on one relationship with each reader. Each reader is interested in your blog till he is interested in you. This might sound impossible, but it is not. You just have to love your blog. And it really helps. You also make new friends because of your blog. When we started Fried Eye,  none of us have met before. We all knew each other through our blogs. It is perhaps one of its kind of business with the core partners having talked only in phone. 

• What are your three favorite blogs to read? What makes those blogs special?

1) She Talks Like June - A Blog by June Basar, I really like her style.

2) Global Madrasi - A Blog by R. Ramesh, a very witty blog.

3) Beya Lora  - A Blog by Raj Das. Go and find it yourself.

• Which one plugin would you suggest all bloggers to have?

I am a fan of plugins. It will be difficult for me to point out one, but nowadays it is the time of smart phones and 3G, so everyone should use a plugin to support your blog in those phones. For wordpress, there is WPTouch.

# thanks Mr.Pramathesh Borkotoky for the Interview