Kiruba Shankar is a blogger based in Chennai. He has quite a following. I check his site about once a month. More recently he was to have hosted the Bharateeya Blog Mela. That's what brought me to his site a couple of days back. Well, there I saw his announcement that he would be suspending his blog. I called it a sick April-fool's joke and so it was. Just about everyone commenting on this “last” post seemed to get a whiff of bull$&)*wafting from his site. But even people like the conservative blogger Glenn Reynolds of Instapundit.com bid him adieu – “I'm not in this place, but I understand. When it's not fun anymore, it's time to quit.”

There is a lot of burn-out in the blogging world. Some start with a few posts and the site lays dormant until it just goes away one day. What motivates me about blogging is that I am able to share with you what I have found or seen or what I have been thinking about. The blogging world is truly a marketplace of ideas (yes, gross plagiarism on my part there). As Paul Graham commands: “publish stuff online, because an audience makes you write more, and thus generate more ideas.” How true!

So, what motivates you to blog and do you feel pressured to do it every day? How close are you to burning out and what do you do to bring back some sanity to your life? Do tell. And while it may still be April Fool's Day, do be honest with your responses.

On March 13, 2005 Nilesh writes: “The next Blog Mela will be hosted on Kiruba's weblog.”

Small problem. Kiruba in a March 30. 2005 post Kiruba writes: “All good things must come to an end and so should this blog. I'm shutting it down. It's time to move on in life.”

Hmmm … so who is hosting the next Bharateeya Blog Mela? Is this some sick pre-April Fool's Day joke?

The 2005 Photobloggies have been announced. Nilesh Chaudhari handily won the South East Asian/Indian division for his photoblog. If you look at his site(s) you'll know why he so deserves it. Congratulations!

The list of desi bloggers meeting on April 2nd in Manhattan has now grown to 16! I am updating the RSVPs to this event now in a special and temporary link list on my site – Tiffinbox. Look to the right column under “Manhattan Masala.”

March 31st is the deadline for all RSVP's to this event; if you are a desi blogger and can make it to a very casual gathering please email me at tiffinbox[at]pipalproductions[dot]com. As I promised Pooja Makhijani there will be no speeches, no toasts, no roasts, just plain schmoozing.

Speaking of Pooja – she has generously donated two copies of her book, Under Her Skin. The first two bloggers [other than Pooja and myself of course] to arrive at the restaurant by 1.30 p.m. will receive these two signed copies. Let the race begin!

JD has taken the initiative to create a graphic to commemorate the Desi Bloggers Manhattan Meet Up on April 2nd. See below!

I am thinking of coming up with a desi-sounding name for what will hopefully become a East coast/West coast annual gathering; any suggestions? Email me at – tiffinbox[at]pipalproductions[dot]com.