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Hashtags helped me gain recognition: Mani Sriganesan, Epomesoruthan!

Eat. Sleep. Write. Repeat. 

This is like a dream for a lot of us but literally, finds time for this. We live in a fast moving world where we don’t really enjoy our food but eat to survive but Mani Sriganesan is different. He eats, enjoys and writes about it. The best part of his writing is definitely the writing flow. When I came across his pages, it’s unique, it’s interesting. So, I caught up with the guy himself. 

1. Hey Mani, Tell us about you in a few words. 

Manikandan Sriganesan, short ah Mani Sriganesan. Typical BE templated – let’s decide things after engineering guy with interest in sales/marketing and food! In short 90’s kid.

2. Ah, Nice! So, How did you come up with the site?

I did not understand what WordPress is for and why people write blogs. What are it’s purposes? Who are their target groups? After some initial Google searches and with the hits that my blog got, I wanted to have my domain and get people reminded of my site every time they see food. Hence epomesoruthan was so registered and I was happy that hashtags like #soru #soruisbae #sorutime gained recognition and has more posts on Instagram. The free themes in WordPress shaped the blog really well and some even told me that the pictures intimidate you to get to the blog and the site is so overflowing with pictures. I was happy for this is what I longed for.

3. Been looking into the hashtags for a while! It’s great! So, You would have visited a lot of hotels and restaurants right? How do you plan for it?

Today is 23 Dec 2018 and I have done 72 posts on my site. Some for catering services and a lot for restaurants and hotels. I spend time on Facebook and Instagram to see new hotels from the people I follow and mark it on my maps. I don’t have a specific plan per se for visits, but limit myself to about 3 or 4 hotels per month. This doesn’t include the weekly 1 or 2 Pani Puri chaats that we have while returning from office. Of late, the wedding has become more than we expect and hence the catering services category is picking up. When I visit a wedding/reception of any of my friends I take pictures of the dishes I eat and get the card of the caterer along with his contact number. Maybe someone can use it for something when they need it. Weekdays have the 1st priority for trying a new hotel whilst I would spend the weekends at home (you know all moms aren’t the nicest here)! If I plan for the visit well in advance, I know it would suck! Most importantly if it spoils the mood, it sure would be the bad thing to do.

4. It’s unique, TBH! What/ who inspired you to come up with your site?

It’s was mid-2017, May 21 to be exact. My friend Bhargav has been calling me for a long time to try the sugarcane juice shop near Velachery and it was the time that different forms of dosas were being made and served hot in roadside outlets and it was a Sunday. We missed the time for sugarcane and landed up at the Tosai outlet (near Chennai silks, now it’s next to McDonald’s – Velachery) which had 3 people and 2 stoves to churn out the dosas. We ordered 3 dosas and I took a video of Pav Bhaji Cheese Dosa and just pictures of the other 2 and uploaded it on FB (public mode). The video was uploaded on the Chennaites page and it became viral. I understood what a million really meant and I was shocked that the post on my wall had so many likes and shares. That was the moment I realised that FOOD has a huge following and I found out that there are only a small number of people from the south who do vegetarian. There are people in the north who do vegetarian and are having more than lakh followers. There are people who do both in the south and they have grown manifolds but I wanted to target only vegetarians and hence I thought of getting a blog for food reviews and posting it with droolishy pictures. I had the free plan from WordPress for about 8 months until I moved on to a personal plan and registered the domain www.epomesoruthan.com

5. I did come across the video and it was all over the places. So, moving on, Best compliment/criticism you received?

I feel best can’t be narrowed to just 1, I shall say some.

Criticism – The pictures can be even more framed with total focus on the main item. It’s all vegetarian, why don’t you post some great non-vegetarian reviews?. Limit the use of smileys in the post. If it’s totally in English, the crowd can be more rather than a specific group.

Compliment – Your flow seems flawless and natural. Keep writing more. Keep eating more. The photos are a real blast in your posts. Please call me next time you go! And a lot more.

6. Ah, super cool! So, Among the places you visited which is your favourite one?

Hands down, CTR Malleshwaram at Bengaluru. The Benne Masala Dosa still stays in my eyes.

Bharathi Mess Mylapore for all its rates and health-conscious cooking.

7. I’m hoping to try the places soon! To my last question, Where do you see yourself in future with the site?

I wish to try out vlogs of the hotels I visit (with someone for help) and post it alongside the blogs. Grow up so that the brand is heard more and get some free foods at star hotels ??

Do followwww.epomesoruthan.com

His Instagram- Mani Sriganesan