Happy New Year

Here’s a collage (a very big thanks to Kiran) of some of the cherished and happy moments at our old office on 80 feet road.

It’s been nearly 3 years since we, 4 crazy media analysts, came up with this blog “80 Feet Road”; blogging right next to the actual 80 feet road. Now this blog has tons of contributors’ blogging on a wide array of topics. This blog has remained and will be a symbol for freedom of speech. People say that we have a right to “freedom of speech”; after all, it is enshrined in our constitution as one of the fundamental rights. However, one will truly understand the difficulties that need to be overcome only when he/she decides to exercise that ‘right’. Some of us found out that the hard way, encountering corporate red tape and the necessity to remain completely neutral, when blogging on a company blog. Necessity is the mother of invention and “80 Feet Road” was born. It was like setting a caged bird free. We could blog with complete freedom. We were our own ‘Masters’. It was this freedom to blog that attracted our people to write on our blog.

 Over the years, we learnt a lot about blogging. Though it looks very simple, it is not. We decided to opt for custom templates for the blogger platform and therein started our learning process. Editing the CSS templates to our needs; learning about the various java script widgets that could be used in our templates and tweaking them according to our preferences; creating a header image in Photoshop; creating custom signatures; learning about and experimenting with various hosting options for our scripts and image files; and finally, the big daddy of them all - Search Engine Optimization.

A very big shout out here for Kiran K. who, with all the workload that a full time graphics designer has to deal with, has steadfastly endured our various requests for tweaking the templates, creating header images for us, edit some of the images that we have put up in our posts and so on… Thank You.

Guru Bhai, the heart and soul of this blog, is responsible for most of the editing with regard to the widgets and templates that we have used over the years. Without his expertise, we wouldn’t have come this far. Thank You.

Guna Bhai was always ready with inputs and without his unwavering support and motivation; this venture would not have started in the first place. He has championed various causes, right from social to green causes on our blog and we are the ever more richer, both in terms of knowledge and soul. Thank You.

Arunava Das, whom I fondly address as Dassappa, has been an engine that drove our little group of activists – GreenHorns. His posts on Bhutan have brought the exotic flavor to our blog. His posts are always a delightful read. Thank You and please post more frequently!

Shilpa, “The Quintessential Phoenix” has been blogging like a phoenix. One thing was certain, when she blogged – it rained blog posts. :) Her range of topics brings out the entire gamut of feelings in the person reading them. Blogging from the heart, we are honored to have her write on our blog. Thank You.

‘A’ Corner, a.k.a. “the management swamiji” has had us in splits with his tongue in cheek satire and has been a welcome relief in our gang of bloggers, bringing in the rare touch of humor to our blog. A very big THANK YOU and please post more frequently!

Rakesh S. a.k.a “the spiritual swamiji” has been kind enough to share his thoughts and views, which inevitably led to debates and discussions. Miss the debates Swamiji and a huge Thank You.

And lastly, a very BIG “Thank You” to all our 80 Feet Road bloggers, without them this blog would not have been – what it is now. And special mention to Verghese Sir and Pravda, for being the beacon light that will always guide us, Thank You.

Our office has shifted to Hosur road. We are now no longer beside the 80 feet road, from which the blog has acquired its name. But this blog will go on. As long as the World Wide Web exists, so will our 80 Feet Road blog. That is a promise.

Enjoy! and here’s whishing you all a Happy New Year.