BenSpark
Today I talk with fellow Geek, Harsh. Harsh please tell the readers about yourself.
Harsh
Hi, my name is Harsh Athalye. I am a techno-blogger who owns a humble piece of blogosphere called Let’s Geek where I ramble about computers, internet and geeky stuff like that. From the childhood, I had interest in writing, but my father wanted me to follow traditional routes like engineering, banking, healthcare etc. I obeyed my father, but the writing spark was always there and with the time, it became stronger. Blogging gives me creative break from mundane routine life and slowly I am getting addicted to it.
BenSpark
So it sounds to me that blogging is perfect for you because you can have that creative outlet of writing that you desire. Tell us about your blogs
Harsh
I first heard about blogging in 2006 when researching online for my software project, but it took me 3 years to learn about blogs and try my hands at it, mostly due to my procrastination. I launched my technology blog – Let’s Geek – at just the turn of 2009. I write about web, social media, blogging, tools, technical reviews and tutorials. I like to learn and share that to my fellow readers through my blog. Before launching this blog, I had created two more personal blogs but never found energy to write much there. Hence, I decided to give my full concentration to a single blog – Let’s Geek.
BenSpark
I can understand the need to focus on one blog after starting a bunch of them, believe me. Why did you start blogging?
Harsh
One thought behind creating blog was to own a space on the web and spread the knowledge. I see a lot of people struggling out there with computers, mainly because they don’t know to make use of technology in a smart way. I wanted to share my passion about technology with others and also to keep myself up-to-date with current trends in technology. It’s a two-way process – to teach and to learn. Secondly, I wanted to move towards financial freedom and blogging is the medium which can set you free, if done properly.
BenSpark
You would like to move towards financial freedom so, do you monetize your blog?
Harsh
Not right now, although recently I received an advertising proposal. My focus is content at the moment and getting more readers. Maybe sometime down the line, I will think about monetization.
BenSpark
Getting some proposals for advertising is great, means that someone is taking notice of your blog. What is a Blogging Tip that you would share with the world?
Harsh
Don’t procrastinate. If you love to share, you love to write, do it now. Don’t think that no subject is left to blog about. Blog about what you love to do. There is just so much to write. I think anybody can blog if they remember one thing, there are at least thousands of people who don’t know what you know. So just pass on your knowledge to them.
BenSpark
Pass your knowledge on to people, a great philosophy to have and a good thing to know. What do you wish you knew when you started blogging?
Harsh
None. I believe in learning from mistakes, sometimes from others’ and sometimes from our own.
BenSpark
What is the Ultimate Goal for a blogger, in your opinion?
Harsh
A blogger’s ultimate goal should always be to touch the lives of people, in a positive way. If tomorrow someone comes to me and says that my blog in some way helped them, that’s the ultimate satisfaction my blog can give me.
BenSpark
That is awesome. You are really about helping and being positive, I love it. There are so many tools at our disposal as bloggers to help accomplish those goals which one plugin would you suggest all bloggers have?
Harsh
As for wordpress plugin, I would choose Akismet, the best spam fighter ever. But since I am a firefox fan, I would also recommend firefox plugin – Firebug – it is simply the best and helped me a lot to tweak design of my blog.
BenSpark
Good options. What is the first thing you do when you fire up your Firefox browser?
Harsh
Check for new blog comments. I am almost addicted to that.
BenSpark
Comments are my favorite part of my blog because I love to interact with people. I like to share with them my best posts especially if I know that they are reading. What is your best blog post ever?
Harsh
That will be my first guest post where I wrote about What a blogger can learn from IPL (Indian Premiere League) tournament.
BenSpark
What are some odd keywords people use to find your blog?
Harsh
Quite a number of them. I received hits for keywords like – gmail@bored.com, google buzz dumb, dialog expressing congratulations, orkut wine scraps and so on.
BenSpark
Those are interesting ones. Orkut Wine Scraps? Strange. Outside of blogging what are your other interests?
Harsh
I enjoy playing table tennis, carrom or computer games when free. Apart from that, I love travelling and taking snaps. Most of the time I take reasonable good photo where people can identify human being from monkey 
Also, I love to sing and good enough not to scare people away!
BenSpark
Being able to differentiate between people and monkeys, yeah that is a good thing to be able to do. 
What is amazing about you?
Harsh
I like to connect with people. Human being is such a great piece of God’s creation, that I can’t help but love them. There’s so much I learned from amazing people out there.
BenSpark
Speed round now. Ipod or other music player?
Harsh
Ipod, always!
BenSpark
Pirates or Ninjas?
Harsh
Yo ho Yo ho, a pirate’s life for me.
BenSpark
Favorite Movie? TV Show? Book?
Harsh
I enjoy romantic comedy movies and my favorite is “As good as it gets”. I don’t watch TV much, but yes I enjoy reading books and my current favorite is I deserted Rommel.
BenSpark
What is the most motivational advice you can give other bloggers?
Harsh
Don’t lose focus and keep your fears at bay. Every successful blogger today was at some time just like you and me, waiting for readers and comments. Don’t give up, world is watching you!
BenSpark
Favorite Blogs?
Harsh
http://wwww.problogger.net
http://www.bloggingtips.com
http://www.freebloghelp.com
http://www.skelliewag.org/
BenSpark
Favorite Podcasts?
Harsh
Not much of a podcast person. None so far.
BenSpark
How does someone connect with you online?
Harsh
The fastest means of contacting me is by shooting a mail at – admin (at) letsgeek (dot) net. Also, I can be reached on my facebook account (http://www.facebook.com/lets.geek) or through twitter (http://twitter.com/letsgeek10)
BenSpark
Harsh, it was really great to interview you, you’re an interesting guy and I wish you much luck.
