Indian Revenue Service officer Ritesh Mishra, Commissioner of Income Tax Appeals in Surat, Gujarat, is gaining popularity among people in an altogether different field other than his profession. He regularly writes blogs and opinion pieces, and these are widely read and much appreciated by readers across the country. He has a way with words, and for this reason, probably, his writing pieces instantly hit a chord.
In an exclusive conversation with Indian Masterminds, Mr. Mishra talked about his passion for writing and how he manages time to indulge in it.
ENCOURAGED BY HIS JOURNALIST FRIEND
Mr. Mishra’s inclination towards writing began during his school days. He loved writing letters to the editor and did that frequently. He wrote for multiple important newspapers of the day and felt really happy when he saw his name displayed on the paper, with his letter.
The officer also had a keen interest in sports, movies, and music. Once, he told his friend, who was working with a leading newspaper at the time, about his interests in writing and entertainment. And the friend suggested to him to start writing opinion columns in the newspaper he worked for.
“He told me that through these columns, the newspaper was trying to encourage everyone to write as they believed that writing is not a prerogative of the professionals only, and everyone should try their hand at it,” Mr. Mishra said.
STARTED OFF WITH SPORTS
In 2015, looking at his love for sports, his friend advised him to cover the ICC World Cup jointly hosted by Australia and New Zealand. Mr. Mishra’s pieces were well received by one and all.
Over time, the officer moved on to social media to express his thoughts in writing. He started off by writing on different topics on Facebook. Very soon, he took up the advice of creating his own blogs.
“My friend advised me to write blogs as they are a space where I can preserve my writings forever. Moreover, anyone and everyone can access my words and go through my thoughts and opinions,” he said.
EXPRESSING HIS THOUGHTS IN BLOGS
While blogging, Mr. Mishra made sure to keep a few things in mind. He ensured that he did his research well and proofread all the facts to avoid any cross-questioning or call-outs from anyone. Furthermore, he kept in mind to give acknowledgements and credits to the pages from where he picked pictures for his blogs.
“My friend asked me to gather and write my pieces from information that is freely available across platforms since it is available for everyone and one can use and curate it as per their needs. This tip helped me a lot and I gained the confidence to start my own blog,” said Mr. Mishra.
WRITING FOR PLEASURE
Soon after he began blogging and these started accumulating regular readers, an entertainment website called koimoi.com approached him. The founder of the website, who happens to be a personal friend of Mr. Mishra, is Alok Kejriwal, who is also the person who brought the gaming world to India. He met the officer and discussed an opportunity with him.
“The website is a Bollywood entertainment-based website that specializes in Bollywood news, movie reviews, and reports. He asked me to join him and write film reviews, series reviews, and other such entertainment pieces for him on a regular basis.”
However, Mr. Mishra made it clear that he wasn’t interested in any commercial relationship since he already has his duty towards the nation as an IRS officer, and if he’s tied down with commercial websites, he would no longer be able to do things of his own free will.
“I told him that I am willing to write reviews for him but of my own free will and just out of fun. I didn’t want any remuneration for my work and would write at my leisure. We came to an agreement, and today, I have already written several articles for Koimoi that are being read countrywide,” he said.
Apart from this, Mr. Mishra has also written articles for Sportstar, the popular sports magazine in the country.
SPREADING POSITIVITY
One thing that Mr. Mishra always keeps in mind while writing his blogs is that the person reading his blogs should feel good about them. He wishes to spread positivity through his words.
“I don’t write on technical topics. My blogs provide a sense of fun and nostalgia. Secondly, I want that, when a reader finishes reading my article, he exits the page with new information in his mind. That’s why I try to research topics and read numerous books so that I can make my blog as informative as possible,” Mr. Mishra said.
It is noteworthy that the officer’s blogs feature in the top 250 blogs of the country, and he shares the platform with legendary actor Amitabh Bachchan and star chef Sanjeev Kapoor, among others.
