How I Started Blogging – the Story of Sudev

A few people entered my life at different phases to weave beautiful patterns on the tapestry of my life. Often, such presences seemed very innocuous and unobtrusive,yet when I look back and join the dots, I am able to decipher reasons and meanings.

For example, Ramesh Prasad of Onefluencer came into my life very recently and encouraged me to showcase to the world what I write. Prior to that, there was a soul audience of one who was ambushed by my words and cajoled words out of me on a daily basis. I loved writing to her and wrote a lot about sweet nothings. That was the time I became regular at blogging.

Then there was Sudev. He taught me the tricks of blogging. And he told me time and again about the powers that lay hidden within me. He is the one who gave me the wings to fly in blogosphere.

Sudev and I connected initially because he believed in the business concept of Service Square. He had tried his hand at the same business in Hyderabad, but he wound it up and left for the US to pursue a career with Bank of America. He connected with me big time.

Perhaps he wanted me to compensate for the business idea he dropped, but on which he had tremendous faith. Or he believed there was some special spark in me. Or, he just wanted to be of help. He has a very big heart.

He spent hours with me almost every day for nearly two years from the middle of 2007. To make sure communication costs did not overshoot his budget, he sent me a vonage phone connection that had a fixed cost. He delved into the nitty- gritty of my business, helped me make business plans, make presentations, extensive projections, investment proposals, the works…….

He saw potential in our weekly bulletin – Chennai This Week – which we had been bringing out week after week from 2002. He was convinced that the online version of CTW would be a sure hit. So, he embarked on a mission to train me – terrible on tech matters –  on how to publish articles in a blog format. He showed me the process for several weeks using Team Viewer. He was as patient and understanding as my wife Sumthi used to be at teaching school lessons to my daughter, Anusha.

During the initial period, the online bulletin was published from New Jersey for several weeks. Then I took over and continued preparing and publishing it. This was my first initiation into using a blog format. Sadly, we discontinued the online version from the middle of this year.

Sudev is someone with ideas bubbling to the surface all the time. So, in 2008, from his base in New Jersey, he galvanized his friends living in different parts of the world to join together to publish a blog with India centred content. The blog had a tidy number of capable writers. They wrote on politics, sports, social issues, entertainment, technology….. I was one of the contributors.

I remember the appreciation I got from Sudev and some of the other writers. I wrote mostly on politics and political leaders. Then after about a year, Sudev got busy at work, besides, India Special was not fetching anyone anything other than mental satisfaction. So, this fun initiative wound up after a year of great run.

India Special gave Sudev a handle to foray into the area of offering communication technology services, including blogging. He encouraged me no end, to blog extensively. That is how www.servicesinchennai.com came into being to act as the mouthpiece for Service Square and www.soulfulgrowing.com became my personal voice.

I have never seen any one trying out one business idea after another with as much indefatigable vigor as Sudev. Many of his attempts proved very ephemeral. Before winding them down, he invested loads of creative energy to make things work. He would latch on to new business ideas and concepts soon after burying failed attempts.

The great thing with people who keep trying various concepts is, of all the mud they throw on the wall, some mud stick – like Tom Peters says in his book, In Search of Excellence. One of the ventures which has survived is, http://aryamans.com. He has a few very big projects up his long sleeve and which he will unveil in the weeks to come. Through sheer hard work and continuous learning, he has developed himself as an expert in the field of social media, web sites, blogs and more.

Sudev has achieved all these while working full time as Vice President at Bank of America in New York. He told me that one of his regrets is that he could not afford an M.B.A education when he was young. To make up, he said, he keeps trying harder and smarter than anyone else. He is recognized and appreciated for the contribution he makes in his work environment. I know for sure there are not too many M.B.A’s around who can match his depth and grasp of things.

Being a trustworthy person, he is trusted by people who are lucky to come his way. He is a bundle of energy and fun. He does not hesitate to go out of his way to be of help.

Of one thing I am certain. Sudev will make it very, very big in life and he will have a lot to contribute to this world.

I am not in touch with him these days on a frequent basis. Perhaps he has given up on me, after all the efforts he put to get me out of the rut.

But he will be happy, my blogs are beginning to do something to me. Perhaps to others who read them, as well.

More importantly, it will delight him no end, what I write in my blog is giving me clarity of purpose and strength to put ideas and plans to test. Things are looking up at Service Square and there is a new found energy.

One of my disappointments is that I let down a lot of people by letting myself down. I am now engaged in rewriting the script of my business and my life for myself. And to let my very dear friends and relatives know that they were not very wrong about their faith in me, after all.

Sudev is the son of one of my best friends, P.K.C Rajah, with whom I have worked and shared a lot of happy times.