Diary of the Narcissist

For a long time, I did not know that Blog was short form for ‘Web Log’. The entire blog concept started as online journal where one can share moments from his or her life. From there, the concept of blogging has expanded to various genres and it is fast emerging as an alternate to books, magazines and Newspapers. Diary of the Narcissist is however a blog by it true traditional definition, an account of interesting happenings in the life of an Indian undergraduate student.

I find the blog title very interesting and apt. You need to really love yourself to be able to write interesting posts that others will love. And what better name for such a person than ‘Narcissist’! However one should not be mislead into thinking his posts are all boastful and highlighting his achievements. On the contrary, his posts are very humble and down to earth I would say. Each one of his posts is a gem I must say. I started to read 5 of his posts for the review and ended up reading close to 20 of his posts.

The language is simple and lucid. Most of the posts are written in a casual conversational tone and are very easy to read. The flow has been maintained well consistently across posts, making use of dialogues wherever necessary. They make really enjoyable reads that can be read in less than 5 minutes. The posts have also been made visually appealing by adding well chosen images. Most of the incidents covered are the kind of incidents that each of us must have across in day to day life. But the way he has written it capturing all the small details with a light sprinkling of humor brings a smile to one’s face. The incidents also feel very real and the Tamil and Malayalam words added here and there only add to it.

The theme of the blog is minimalist. For a personal blog one cannot say what the ideal look and feel should be like. It depends on the personality of the blogger. The blogger comes across as a simple down to earth person from his posts. That way the simple theme goes well. There is nothing to distract the reader. The post background, font and color are all friendly to the eye. The widgets have been well chosen. The “Do you like?” widget is possibly one he could do away with. People generally don’t give such feedback. I like all the other widgets. The flipping through is a nice one for instance. His posts are ‘random’ in his own words and a new reader may like to read just any random post which option this widget gives. Similarly the Wibya bar is nice. It kind of reminds the reader to bookmark/follow the blog.

The navigation for this blog is excellent. Other than the widget I mentioned earlier, every post has a related posts section and also every post has a link to the previous post. It would possibly be good to have next posts link as well, in case a reader starts somewhere close to the beginning. The archives are also there. But that is of course not the most convenient method of navigating a blog. When browsing from office where most widgets are disabled and images don’t come up properly, I found the previous post link most convenient. And I must say once you read one of his posts, you will feel like clicking the previous post link.

The interaction is pretty decent. The comments clearly reflect the reader is able to personally relate to the posts. And the blogger acknowledges every comment. Not sure for this kind of blog, if the reader would come back to see if the blogger has replied. Not much scope for any kind of discussion as such. But it is good to acknowledge anyways. I am user a new reader would find the ‘FAQ’ and contact pages useful. Also having a separate page for blogroll rather than having it on the side bar is a good idea. That helps the blog benefit from link exchanges without cluttering the front page.

As of now I don’t see need for too much more improvement in this blog. Maybe highlighting the top 5 posts may help retain new readers. As they say first impression is best impression. This blog is less than a year old. So I see lot of enthusiasm. I have seen many blogs like this coming up well and then suddenly disappearing into obscurity. I hope this blog sustains for long. It is easy to write such posts when at college. College friends and family tend to be very sportive. But office colleagues and social acquaintances tend to be touchy. You never know who might be reading your blog and whose raw nerve a blog post may touch. So once into professional environment people tend to get a bit shy about expressing their views openly on a blog, especially after an unpleasant incident or two. This is one pitfall I would ask this blogger to beware of. A little bit of forethought and some caution before posting should help avoid such situations and I am sure the blogger can continue to produce gems.

Overall I would say this blog is a nice read for someone in office who is feeling bored or wants to de-stress for 5 minutes between work. His posts won’t make you guffaw aloud drawing your boss and colleagues’ attention towards you. But they will definitely make you smile quietly to yourself, feel refreshed and get back to work.

Let me present below 5 samples from this blog handpicked by the blogger himself that will help you get a glimpse into his writings.

Describing my ideal partner (in 45 sec)
Today's parents
Job in Paradise
Fanatics
“What are you?”, she asks


If your a blogger and you like this review and feel you want a similar review for your blog, check out this post.