My 80,000 friends!!

One of my corresponents (who shall remain unnamed) wrote to me

"Dear Jacob,

Even I would have 80,000 friends if I forwarded all the e-mails I got to every one I know !!

Just kidding.

Somehow, I prefer a more personal approach, more one-on-one-- too shy to have my mails all over the place."

Actually, I rarely forward emails unless there is a specific purpose
to be served.

I replied thus to my correspondent:

Hi,

What you say is absolutely true that the number of contacts
could grow by forwarding emails, but in my case there is a slight
difference (and my fault) in that I get personally involved with all
the people I deal with.

For instance this is an email I got yesterday from my a Finnish and
a Hungarian friend whom I introduced day-before-yesterday to a
Mumbai couple:

"Hi!

Had dinner last night with Ashok and Malathi, and they
invited us to stay with them already on the phone
before they had met us. .......

Today, we will call Fazila at 4 pm and we should meet
her tonight unless something came up. Malathi asked us
to invite her for dinner at their's tonight as well,
so we will call and ask to see if that is ok.

They are really great people and thank you for linking
us up (ildi's words)."

You see how it works.

All my worldwide friends are great and wonderful people and I
always try to link the right types, knowing each person's
background and character.

That cannot be done by only forwarding emails!!!

When I started "Findians Briefings" as a free hard copy in-house
journal, it was just for a few hundred Finnish and Indian
businessmen interested in trade between the two countries.
Within three months it had snow-balled into 7000 copies
which I could no longer afford to produce it as hard copy.
That was why I started putting it on internet.

Within a year the readership was in 90 countries and covered
over 50,000 people!! And it grew and grew. I was producing it
from my attic with an obsolete Mac PowerBook.

When I launched Seventh Heaven and Kooler Talk, it again
blew up out of all proportions.

The secret was personal "nostalgic involvement" (and it still is).
Plus it is a close one-to-one relationship with my audience which
involves a 24 hour reply and action cycle. Some contact me once a
year, some as often as two or three times a week. Their husbands /
wives, children, grandchildren, are all important to them (and me).

Again to give an instance, Shallu, mother of Rohit and Rahul read the
blog, got her 90 year old mother involved, generating a huge
audience from Madras and Bangalore. Now Rahul's photography
is on the blog. Within a few hours I had readers clamouring for more.
I posted the short note about Rohit's wife's (Kavita's) book "Brahmins
and Bungalows : Travels Through South Indian History by
Kavita Watsa" . That has generated an enormous response
from people I had never heard of before yesterday!!

To give you a couple of examples that you would be more familiar
with: How else would I have stepped in and taken care of Sadhana's
daughter, and her relationship leading to marriage with a Finn, even
though I have never met Sadhana in my life? Or why would I search
and locate Barbara Rossi for Gracie as I have never personally met
Gracie in my life (knowingly)? Both Sadhana and Gracie are part of
my absolutely lovely personally unmet friends, but we know each
other intimately through our correspondence!!!

In the old days it used to be called "pen-pals" whom I have termed
as "e-pals".

When I wrote the article "Greed : Missile of Black Gold", I had
literally hundreds of people all over the world (professors to
housewives) who were saved from losing large amounts of money
and life in the Nigerian Scam. All of these people have become
dear friends even though I do not "know them from
Adam"!!!

When my domain name in Canada collapsed, there was utter
chaos, but now it is slowly getting back to normal as I restore
normal communications with this circle of "friends". (JM:
This has proven to be the most difficult of the tasks that I have
ever undertaken.)

There are hundreds of journalists and writers that I know who send
out automated replies when people write to them about their
articles. I have never done that, so that is why my circle of friends
and readers is so large and growing. Of course I get criticism,
but I answer them with a principled answer which may conflict
with the opinions of the correspondent. But we soon agree to
disagree and remain friends. (Unless of course it is so blatant
as in the bizarre exchange of e-correspondence with the
"educated" American!!)

What is the secret behind Malayala Manorama and its immense
readership? My grandfather's personal involvement with his
audience, something I learnt from him in the 50s!!

It is a philosophy which is built into the organisation and does
not depend on who is in charge today. Rajen, Thambi and Chacko
are really introverts, but Malayala Manorama continues to grow
because of a philosophy laid down in its early years which has
remained unchanged.

Regards

Jacob