Seek, and ye shall find me
Feb 15th, 2008 by lekhni
I usually don’t pay much attention to what searches lead people to my blog, mostly because WordPress.com is so bad at these things anyway. But I cannot help noticing some of the more frequent searches.
Around Diwali, there were the people who would come to my blog searching for Diwali cooking and stories about Ravana. At least, that’s what I think they were searching for. Some of us are thinking just about the keywords when we Google, and not really about what we end up saying. Which is why I can imagine why someone would type in “Cooking Ravana on Diwali” and hit “I’m feeling lucky”. Voila! They get my post on Diwali cooking and Ravana’s Army.
I don’t feel as lucky to find that Google thinks I am the go-to person to know all about cooking Ravana, but hey, at least they did want to know about Diwali.
Then there are the people who want to know how they can profit from the U.S. Presidential elections. “How can I sell my vote ?” they ask Google. Or “sell my vote on eBay”. The omniscient Google thinks I am the best person to tell them how to do this, or at least one of the top ten on the planet.
Unfortunately, these people are bound to be disappointed once they read my post and find that not only is it not about selling votes, it is not even about the U.S. Presidential election; it is about India. No doubt, Google will then direct them to others who will teach them how to sell their vote.
Interestingly, I also find that as the election approaches, instead of greater numbers of people seeking to sell their vote, there have actually been fewer such searches of late. Either most of these people have already sold their vote (or figured out how to), or voters are becoming less apathetic.
The New York Times carried an article yesterday about how suddenly, everyone is discussing the election in great detail at office water coolers. Apparently, this level of interest is somewhat unprecedented. But I could have told them this weeks ago, when the flood of eBay vote sellers to my blog slowed down to a trickle. Perhaps this also explains why voter turnout at the primaries is increasing to record levels.
I thought I had seen it all in terms of Google searches. But what really cracked me up is this search I found yesterday - someone actually asked Google - “why potatoes are better gifts than flowers to buy on Valentine’s Day”.
This just shows how sadly lacking I am in imagination. I thought I had covered all the mistakes men make in buying gifts on Valentine’s Day, but potatoes?
I am really glad Google directed this guy (it has to be a guy, right?) to my blog. Hopefully, this guy took away something from my blog post on what not to buy on V-Day.
Someone out there should really be thanking me from the bottom of their hearts 
Rajesh Kumar 
Mys Lyke Meeh 
Shrinidhi Hande 
wsw 
Amit 
km 
nits 
Billigflug 
Reema 
??! 
Meira 
purplesque 
tabula rasa 
1. Potatoes don’t need water to stay fresh.
2. They come in only two colors (yellow and red), so no confusion as to what the different colors mean.
3. They can be used to make a great meal, the memory of which will stay longer than any bouquet.
4. Umm, what else - oh yeah, they could be used to inaugurate the new French Fry maker he got her as a V’Day gift.
You can’t throw a rose at your significant other and get a laugh out of it.
Yes Lekhni, you are a prophet (female for ‘prophet’ is ‘prophet’ right? If you are a Bong commenter on this blog, don’t confuse it with ‘Pomphret’) Don’t know how I would have settled into modern living and discovered subtle home truths without reading your blog.
hahahh..even if I wanted to seek you, I would never have thought of asking google god how to kill ravana!…hehehe..
you know I get all sorts of visitors coming thr ‘t’, not sure how it is related to my blog..I have given up trying to figure what it is…and can you think of rare gravies????…
I loved your Diwali post. Happily read it again:)
I laughed out aloud reading this one.
One search that lands people (and there seem to be many of them, or just one very persistent searcher) with regularity to my site is “hot naked Indian aunt stories”!! That one always cracks me up! Particularly when I imagine their disappointment!
Kamini.
Ok, one stupid question…How do you know which search has landed anyone at your blog?
BTW, you’ve been tagged in my latest post…!
Charu
..thot there might be confusion between gulab ke phool and gobi ke phool …but alu???
BPSK: That was funny! You present a most convincing argument
km: Agreed. Throwing past-expiry roses is also not that much fun - they still smell good
ArSENik: My only claim to prophethood - I once played the role of a Pythia in school
Srivalli: Rare gravies? Hmm…
Dipali: Thanks
Kamini: Hilarious! Though why “stories”?
rajk: WordPress’s Dashboard tells you (very incompletely and imperfectly), but that’s the only choice we WP users really have
On the tag, I am such a good taggee, I completed the tag even before you tagged me
charukesi: That is fun. Maybe you should have a page about feet problems, or better still, partner with podiatrists and advertise them
Cynic in Wonderland: Just shows that this blog is sadly misnamed. Even the Universe of Googlers is beyond my Imagination