Blogging the DNA of books!

• Suyash Karangutkar.
• TWITTER: @columnistsuyash

Big B, Amitabh Bachchan tweets him, “Well done… Your site for blog is more attractive than mine… Great Design.” Well-known author Tuhin Sinha says, “blogging requires a lot of discipline and passion, which is evident in Abhilash’s efforts… one of most attractive blogs I have come across recently.”

Blogging now, has transformed into a passion with too many people writing their heart out on their personal blogs. We have so many blogs online today, with spectrum of views and opinions. 

And yes, as author Tuhin Sinha mentioned, Abhilash Ruhela's blog is damn attractive and well maintained too. Today, in Interactions, the News-O-Holic has Abhilash Ruhela, an avid blogger and a contributing author at Uff Yeh Emotions. 

It was back in August 2009 that Abhilash’s blog ARB went online. “I was 19 years old then. I used to think that my life is most interesting and exciting. Hence, I should share it with my friends through my blog,” he says as the interaction begins. No sooner had Abhilash started blogging that he realized he was no Amitabh Bachchan or Aamir Khan that people will interestingly read the happenings in his life. Although this remained a fact, Abhilash was very serious towards his blog. 

“I had a habit of reading books,” he prompts. And thus from this habit arouse a thought of reviewing those books. And the same journey of reviewing books is going on and on since five years now. 

Abhilash is currently pursuing Masters of Computer Applications from Navi Mumbai’s Sterling College. Says Abhilash while describing his journey as a student, “Till 2006, I was in the outskirts of Mumbai, some 70 kilometers away from the City of Dreams. I completed my 10th in an English medium where we used to be taught in Marathi. But that's India for you! Later on, I did my Junior college from Nashik and  shifted to Mumbai.”

Five years down the lane, when Abhilash just had entered into the world of blogging, he accosted lots of criticism. His blog posts, articles, reviews were criticized but he never lost hope and aspired to do better with every post. And here he is today with 1000+ posts on his blog and several people visiting it every day.

Three years after beginning with his blog, there was so much demand for Abhilash’s reviews that he began receiving messages from his readers. His readers began demanding a dedicated site for his reviews. And then, DNA of books came into existence. Only book reviews are updated at DNA of books and this blog too has been recording an appreciable readership.

Abhilash is a university student and still he reviews books as quickly as he can. “I wish to make, at least my blog readers, aware of new books in market and I have found many of them getting into reading,” he says. 

He always dreamed of writing 1000 Blog Posts and he has done that with an average of 1 post every 1.6 days. “Now, I am just writing it because I love writing blogs. I love reading the mails that I get after I post something. I am doing for motivation sake. When things don't work well in real life, I come and write a blog post mentioning how I would love my life to be and I feel fresh after that,” he says determinedly. 

“When I started Blogging, I didn't even know if writers are for real. I used to see them as Bollywood Superstars itself, whom I could never see and touch. But just imagine today, when I find myself talking with Amish Tripathi, Chetan Bhagat, Ravi S., Ashwin Sanghi and all the big bestsellers, I feel very good about my blogging journey. With Amitabh Bachchan's comment on my Blog, I feel there's nothing left for me to do with blogging. Haha!” he happily says when asked to define his journey as a blogger.

Abhilash continues reviewing books but currently he is planning to move towards Bollywood. “Now I am trying to do something with Bollywood people through my blog. Let's see if it works or not. Time will tell,” he says optimistically, as this interaction comes to end.