Tag: personal reflection

When I Used to Write Without Thinking


I wrote my first blog on my birthday — 25th February 2000.

There was no WordPress then.
There were no themes, plugins, or analytics.
There was a simple PHP script called Blogger.

I wrote because I wanted to.
Not because I had an audience.
Not because I had something to sell.

When I eventually moved to WordPress, I lost everything I had written in those first five years.
Those words are gone forever — like notebooks misplaced during a house move.

Today, it’s 26 years later.

What remains is not a perfect archive, but a living memory.
And below is my reflection on what it felt like to write — and to change — between 2000 and 2026.

I started blogging when the internet still made noise.

In those days, I didn’t think about branding.
I didn’t think about positioning.
I didn’t think about audience psychology.

I just wrote.

In 2009 alone, I wrote 349 posts.
Three hundred and forty-nine.

I don’t even remember writing half of them.

I was young.
Not in age alone — but in openness.

I wrote about business dreams I didn’t fully understand.
I wrote about failures while they were still bleeding.
I wrote about friendships, risks, banks, emotions, optimism.
I wrote like someone who believed the world was listening.

And maybe it was.

Not loudly.
Not virally.
But quietly.

Those years were not strategic.
They were volcanic.

Some posts were raw.
Some were immature.
Some were embarrassingly honest.
But they were alive.

Then life happened.

Responsibilities grew.
Losses matured me.
Experience sharpened me.
Trust became selective.

I didn’t stop writing.

I just stopped exposing.

The words became slower.
More structured.
More guarded.

Young Anand wrote to release.
Today’s Anand writes to reflect.

Back then I was open.

Now I am layered.

And sometimes I miss that reckless courage —
that version of me who hit “Publish” without overthinking permanence.

But maybe this is growth.

Not becoming silent.

Just becoming intentional.

If you’ve been around since those early days —
thank you.

If you’re new here —
you’re reading a man who once wrote 349 times in a year
and now writes when it truly matters.

Either way…

This is not a comeback.

This is continuity.

— S.Anand Nataraj

26 Years of Blogging… Hello? Echo? Hello?


I started blogging in the year 2000.

That was when:

  • Internet made sounds like a dying robot.
  • “Upload speed” was a philosophical concept.
  • And blogging meant typing your soul into HTML.

For 26 years, I’ve written through dial-up, broadband, 3G, 4G, and now whatever-G we are in. I’ve written during my golden years, my rebuilding years, my confused years, and my “what am I even doing?” years.

Some posts were read. Some were shared. Some probably helped someone. Some probably confused even me.

But here’s the truth.

Somewhere along the way, the world moved.

From: Reading → Listening
Listening → Watching
Watching → Scrolling
Scrolling → Forgetting

And I stayed here. Typing.

Not because I can’t make videos.
Not because I can’t shout into a mic.
But because writing feels honest.

When I write, I think. When I think, I slow down. When I slow down, I become real.

But lately, I have a doubt.

Am I still writing to humans?
Or just to:

  • Google bots
  • SEO algorithms
  • Or my loyal WiFi router blinking in sympathy?

So this is not a motivational post.
Not a business insight.
Not a life lesson.

This is a reality check.

If you’re still here… If you still prefer reading over reels… If long-form thoughts still matter to you…

Drop a comment.

Just say: “I’m here.”

No drama. No philosophy. Just proof of life.

Because after 26 years, I don’t need virality.

I just need to know — Is the tribe still alive?

– S.Anand Nataraj