A young man was walking down the lanes of a Thrissur suburban town called Kuriachira many years ago, keen to make ends meet with odd jobs he could find time for, after his Pre- Degree classes.
Joseph Thomas was working as a part-time salesman in a bakery when his interest was aroused by goldsmithry. For four years, Joseph worked as a goldsmith, leaving his studies behind.
During his leisure time he would glimpse through the ‘Teens Today’ magazines which took him to the path of internet, to the path of web designing, and Joseph became a part of Kerala’s now strong IT population.
His name found a place in blogosphere and now everyone knows him as ‘Jo’ of ‘jocalling.com’.
“It was a time before internet cafes had even made their presence in Thrissur, when internet was still an alien subject among the masses. It fascinated me that you could create an email id and talk to anyone in this world without the help of a postman,” says Joseph.
He took up a computer course and started exploring the area of webpage creation. His tutor, seeing his interest, advised him to pursue an advanced course.
Jo finished the course and landed his first IT job at a software development firm in Aluva. “After working for a couple of years, I realised that I could do on my own what I did for the company.”
Jo started working from home, creating websites for clients he found online. But the need of a regular job pulled him back to the corporate world and presently he works as UI designer at a Thiruvananthapuram based software firm.
While he moved from goldsmith days to the internet era, Jo also found time to nurture his interest in music. He started audio blogging, recording songs in his voice.
He was surprised when received a comment one day from M.G. Radhakrishnan appreciating his rendition of one of his songs. It also led to him singing a track for one of Radhakrishnan’s albums.
Jo further started blogswara.in — an initiative to promote independent musicians. The site now houses seven online music albums made by aspirant musicians and singers.
