Short answer: because there’s no escape.

There’s no escape from it the same way there’s no escape from the web. Ten years ago, we didn’t believe the web would tie us all together the way it has done. Today can we imagine life without email (hell, even my technology-challenged father in the heart of rural India threatens me with emails now), without online shopping, without Google?

Not. And that’s how it will be — is — with blogs.

For us blogizens, the blogless are the have-nots, the unprivileged, the underclass. Mere muggles, boring and non-magical. The unenlightened.

But enlightenment isn’t hard to come by. Not with easy-to-read sites on blogging like this around. Before I pass you on to such, let me tell you why I blog.

Because it’s fun. It allows me to engage, experiment in writing, an activity I enjoy. It allows me to practice my craft.

Because it lets me be my own writer, my own editor, my own publisher. I get to decide. I get a voice, and it is all my own.

Because I am in the business of communication and this is communication, up close and personal, one-to-one, one-to-many. It’s a channel open 24/7, easy to use, economical, fast, far-reaching. Open to everyone, me, you, anyone with Internet access, to communicate darned anything — from what it is like when your convoy is attacked in Iraq and how to help communication in big businesses to celebrity gossip from the streets of New York and what it is to have tumour cut out from your brain.

Because I am in the business of education, and blogs can be effective learning and teaching tools. They provide for collaboration, for sharing information not just with students — and students certainly will find them helpful — but with other faculty across the world. Check out these scholars who blog.

Because it puts me in touch with people, contacts, sources. People I would never have met otherwise. It can be the ultimate networking tool, used intelligently.

Because it is a wonderful news source. Not once, not twice, but many, many, many times have I come across information on blogs I would otherwise have missed. Latest instance, this story on why the old media should embrace the new, which I came across on my favourite half-Estonian’s media blog. Fact is, there’s so much happening around us that we possible can’t keep track of everything on our own. Blogs like this, which are nothing but specialised newsletters, do that for us.

Because… oh, never mind. That’s enough reasons. And guess what? My hunch is that every reason I mentioned above applies to you too, especially if you are interested in media, in communication. If you are still sceptical of this online uprising, here’s some stats:

There are at least 10 million blogs already out there. Every day, at a conservative estimate, some 35,000 blogs are created, and the blogosphere doubles itself every five months. You can’t outrun such a phenomenon.

There really is no escape, you see.

PS: Am I talking rubbish? Would love to hear your views. Also, if there’s any particular aspect of blogging you’d like me to blog on, drop me a comment, willya?