It’s my birthday. If you were to grant me a wish today, I would ask you to read something I write. Do you like science? Try this. Do you not like science? Give me an opportunity to change your mind, try this.
One of the weirdest thing about being a writer is that most of the time you are unaware of who it is that is reading your work. That, I realise, is an inevitable outcome of choosing this profession.
But I don’t know a single author who wouldn’t want to know who reads them. For instance, if by some good fortune, someone finishes reading my work and smiles, I would love to know that my writing gave them that smile. Perhaps that smile meant a lot more. Maybe it was someone who was reading it in a crowded bus back home after she had had a bad day at work.
The aim, however, is not to collect such lovely anecdotes that will stroke my vanity. Instead, having friends read your work can be a serious advantage. Your feedback can and will help me improve. If I write something that is rubbish, the internet will tell me. However, if I write something that can be improved, it is only friends who will point it out to me in a constructive way.
So as a birthday wish, give my writing a try. The best way to do this would be to subscribe by email, where you’ll get my articles delivered straight to your inbox twice or thrice a week. If what I write is not your cup of tea, you can unsubscribe at any point and I will still buy you an actual cup of tea the next time we meet.
Thank you, dear friends and new readers.
Akshat Rathi 
Wish you a very happy birthday, Akshat. I have been following you ever since you started writing and will always do. I wish you a lots of new ideas to write about every day. I also wish you a very enjoyable day and the year to come. May God bless you.
Thank you, Chacha!
This is very nicely written – really good intro flow, very nicely phrased. Interesting as well as motivating action. What do you think is the best thing you’ve written? Most interesting? What is most read? Most commented on? Why?
Thanks, Christo. Nice questions. Here are the answers:
Best thing: http://www.economist.com/node/21564191.
Most interesting: https://theconversation.com/metals-in-your-smartphone-have-no-substitutes-21142
Most read: https://theconversation.com/after-400-years-mathematicians-find-a-new-class-of-solid-shapes-23217
Most commented: http://arstechnica.com/science/2013/08/new-meta-analysis-checks-the-correlation-between-intelligence-and-faith/