One Year Ago

One year ago I wrote:

On Chocolate and Gold Coins

After deciding to start a blog, I had to think of what to name it. Naturally, the really good names have been taken. For example, I thought the name Instapundit would be a good one for a blog but it turns out that someone already took that one.

Chocolate and gold coins are two of my favorite commodities. And naming a blog that deals with economic issues after commodities makes sense, especially commodities that symbolize consumption and income. However, the name “Chocolate and Gold Coins” refers to something else. It refers to types of writing you might find on this blog. Gold coins are something with intrinsic value. You might find something like that here buried deep under the rubbish if you search long enough. Chocolate is another commodity altogether. It is something to be enjoyed briefly and soon forgotten, like a frivolous but fun piece of writing. There will be more chocolate than gold in this blog. In any case, I hope you find something you like here.

Thus started my decline into madness.
I also wrote this:

Thanks, Amit

Before I post anything else, I must thank Amit Varma [my wife curses him] for encouraging me to start a blog. Who is Amit Varma? I don’t really know...some guy in India I guess. I’ve never met him, but he seems really nice.

Actually, I know quite a little bit about Amit from the several blogs that he keeps. He is a poohbah at Wisden/Cricinfo and writes an excellent blog on cricket (a sport involving a bat, a ball, and lots and lots of time) called 23yards. He also has a blog called The Middle Stage that deals with politics and culture that usually has something interesting that Amit trolled up through his search of the Internet. But Amit’s crown jewel of his blog empire is his blog on India called India Uncut. It is an enormously entertaining site filled with good writing and good links. If you’re curious about India and Indian blogs, that’s the place to start.

Mostly, I know Amit as that fellow who writes back. I have written many letters to many people, always very polite, and rarely do they respond. Oh well, people are busy, and I probably write to the busiest people. Amit is very busy. Yet he almost always responds with a nice note. I appreciate that.

There is much I don’t know about Amit. He plans to write a blog about cows. “A blog on cows?” you ask. I have no idea. I could ask him I guess…but it is much more fun to speculate. My conjecture is that Amit likes excellent cappuccinos and excellent chai. He is a connoisseur: he must have fresh milk. Therefore he keeps two cows as pets in his Mumbai apartment. And naturally he would want to blog about something like that.

Update: Amit has generously supplied his blog knowledge to the task of upgrading the look and feel of this site. Doesn't it look great? What a guy!

Yes indeed, Amit Varma of India Uncut designed my blog template. Who else (besides Amit and maybe his wife) could say that?
I wonder how his cows are doing.

Yes, this is my blog-anniversary. And I should thank everyone who ever commented on my blog or ever linked to my blog. Here is a partial list of people who did at one time or other comment on my blog. If I left you out – just leave a note and I’ll gladly amend. I you have never commented on this blog and I accidently included you on the list then leave a note in the comments and I will puzzle over what to do.
There’s one or two in this list that might surprise you!

• Half Sigma


• Steve Levitt of Freakonomics Blog


• Abhi of Sepia Mutiny


• Amit of India Uncut


• Arnab the Greatbong


• Charukesi Ramadurai many times


• Curious Gawker many times


• Gaurav Sabnis a few times


• Nitin Pai a few times


• Patrix many times


• Ravikiran Rao


• Saket Vaidya a few times


• Sujatha (Bangalore)


• Sunil (Seattle) many times


• Vikram Arumilli


• Anand of Locana


• Arzan Sam Wadia


• Ash


• Ashish Hanwadikar


• Dilip D'Souza


• Kaps


• Kunal Sawardekar


• Sonia Faleiro


• Sourin Rao


• Uma of Indiawriting


• Vikrum Sequeira


• Aditya Bidikar


• Anand of Locana


• Andrew of Anyletter


• Ashish Gupta many times


• Chandrachoodan Gopalakrishnan


• Chandon V


• Deba (Chennai)


• Jai Arjun of Jabberwock


• Jwaala


• Life - More or Less Live


• Madhu Nair


• Adhisht Khanna


• Minal of Granger Gab


• Mihn-Duc Phan


• Rahul Anantharaman


• Ravi (Gujarat)


• Sameer Marathe


• Sandeep Menon


• Saurabh Jayawant


• Sourin Rao


• Shrikanth


• Spanish in India


• Sue at Dutch Diary


• Suman Kumar


• Truman


• @mit (Minneapolis)


• Sometimes It's Peaceful


• Saket Vaidya


• Patrix


• Suhail Kazi


• T. A. Abinandanan


• Anil Kandangath


• Suman Kumar


• The Common Room


• Ravisez


• Ranjit Shinde


• Ravi of Carpe Diem


• Aishwarya of Dehli


• Ravikiran Rao


• SloganMurugan many times


• Nilu


• TTG


• Thennavan


• Rajeshwari
• 
  
• Raj Mehta


• Froginthewell many times


• Sean of Australia


• Emily Oster of Freakonomics fame


• And who could forget Yum Yum

I believe Sunil holds the record for the most (and best) comments but an accurate tally might surprise me.

There have been many occasions where I have been very close to chucking the whole blog. Even yesterday, I thought I should spend my time doing more productive things. But maybe some friendships will eventually form. I need to make more effort in that respect. Anyway, it will be a day-by-day decision.