Welcome Note

Dear Friends,

I have been an expert trainer for interviews and group discussions. In this capacity, while conducting training programmes and workshops on the subject, one question that I often asked my trainees was "What is your hobby". It could appear as a simple question, but the responses that I got to this question were less than simple ! I found (to my dismay and surprise) that a majority of the trainees were not even aware of the concept of a "Hobby" and how it is different from an "Interest" or a "Pastime". Most of the people I have trained and interviewed to date tended to confuse a passing interest with a hobby. Consequently, the moment I put forth a simple question related to their "Hobby", they were hard pressed to answer it to my satisfaction. 

A "Hobby" can be defined as an indulgence for which a person actively sets aside time, in which he/she invests efforts and resources, and about which he/she is eager to search for information. Simply put, a hobby is a passion. It goes beyond the realm of the trivial and the intermittent. It is like a love affair and it constantly competes with the demands of a job and a family for time and resources. In fact, a person actively involved in pursuing a hobby is often better at his/her hobby when compared to his own vocation. It is often related to the 'inner calling' of a person and given sufficient time to blossom, could even become a career. 

Next is the question, "What can be a hobby" or "What is a good hobby to pursue?" Well, the answer to both these questions is simple. "Anything is a good hobby" and "Any activity is a good hobby to pursue". Of course these answers come with a rider. And the rider is that the activity you choose to pursue as a hobby should not be illegal, immoral and/or injurious to you or the society. If the given activity qualifies this test, it is as good a hobby as any other. Of course, having said that, I must list out the most popular hobbies. I think that stamp collection (philately) would without doubt qualify as the most popular hobby in the world. Music, gardening, art and craft, aquarium keeping, pet keeping, writing, sports and a plethora of such activities also fall in the category of what I would call "Popular Hobbies". These hobbies are pursued by a multitude of people in almost all the countries on Earth. Even in your city you will easily find a great many people pursuing one of these hobbies. Due to their popularity; equipment, training facilities, other supplies and information relating to these hobbies are easily available in most cities of the world including those of India. 

There are some other hobbies like Aeromodelling, which I will call "Niche Hobbies". These hobbies are those which are not so popular as the "Popular Hobbies" but have a dedicated-even fanatical-band of followers. The followers of such hobbies are few in number and are available only in select cities of the world, especially India. The equipment, training facilities, other supplies and information relating to these hobbies, consequently are difficult to come by in the average Indian city. 

Having searched at length for information relating to the multitude of hobbies that I pursue, I decided to start a blog of my own that would provide pointed and free information on popular hobbies like gardening and aquarium keeping and more importantly, on the niche hobby of Aeromodelling. 

I am also acutely aware that the hobbyist in India faces a big problem. And that problem is that there are very few authors in India writing on the subject of hobbies. It often happens that the experts in some hobbies do not have any interest in writing and, therefore, are unable to share their information and expertise with other hobbyists, especially the beginners. The net result of such a state of affairs is that the average hobbyist in India has to rely heavily on the work of foreign authors who, naturally, write in the context of their own countries. 

This blog is my attempt to make quality information on hobbies that I pursue available to all the other hobbyists (especially the beginners) for free. I hope that you will find my blog useful and instructive at the same time.