An interest is the feeling of a person whose attention, concern, or curiosity is particularly engaged by something, or Something that concerns, involves, draws the attention of, or arouses the curiosity of a person. Basically, an interest is something one likes to do or something that one has a feeling for. For example, she has an interest in poetry, or he is interested in watching the game. A hobby is something one likes to do in his past time, a spare-time recreational pursuit. It is an action, something one does. Usually, hobbies need devotion; it is something that has to be done systematically. For example, stamp collection or playing an instrument. Interest has a broad scope which includes hobbies. If one has an interest, they may or may not develop it into a hobby. If someone is somewhat interested in something, he may not pursue it actively. For example, he is interested in sky diving, but he hasn’t gone even once. On the other hand, one will only pursue a hobby if he is interested in it. For example, she is interested in classic literature, her hobby is to collect and read old books, or, he is interested in birds, his hobby is bird watching.

1. Col Mukteshwar Prasad(Retd)
Hobbies & Interest

2. Introduction
 According to Dictionary.com,
 An interest is the feeling of a person whose attention, concern, or
curiosity is particularly engaged by something, or
 Something that concerns, involves, draws the attention of, or
arouses the curiosity of a person.
 Basically, an interest is something one likes to do or something that one
has a feeling for.
 For example, she has an interest in poetry, or he is interested in
watching the game.
 A hobby is something one likes to do in his past time, a spare-time
recreational pursuit. It is an action, something one does.
 Usually, hobbies need devotion; it is something that has to be done
systematically.
 For example, stamp collection or playing an instrument.
 Interest has a broad scope which includes hobbies.
 If one has an interest, they may or may not develop it into a hobby.
 If someone is somewhat interested in something, he may not pursue it
actively.

3.  A hobby is a regular activity that is done for pleasure, typically during
one's leisure time.
 Hobbies can include collecting themed items and objects, engaging in
creative and artistic pursuits, playing sports, or pursuing other
amusements.
 By continually participating in a particular hobby, one can acquire
substantial skill and knowledge in that area.
 Generally speaking, a person who engages in an activity solely for fun is
called a 'hobbyist', whereas a 'professional' generally engages in an
activity for reward and an 'amateur' (from French for "lover of") does so
out of personal interest in an activity.
 While an amateur may be as skilled as a professional, a professional
receives compensation while an amateur generally does not.

4.  Etymology
 In the 13th century, the term "hobyn" had the meaning of "small horse or
pony".
 The term "hobbyhorse" was documented in a 1557 payment confirmation
for a "Hobbyhorse" from Reading, England.
 The item, originally called a "Tourney Horse", was made of a wooden
or basketwork frame with an artificial tail and head.
 Designed to mimic a real horse, the hobbyhorse was used
for religious activities and civic occasions.
 In the 17th century, the term was used in a pejorative sense due to
the childish origins of the term.
 Referring to the origin of the word, engaging in one's hobby equated
to the horse outfit from the term's formulation and was considered a
puerile overindulgence that would yield no benefit.
 By 1816 the derivative, "hobby", was introduced into the vocabulary of
an unknown number of English people.
 Over the course of subsequent centuries, the term came to
mean "recreational" or "leisurely pursuit“.

5.  Etymology…..
 A hobby is also called a pastime, derived from the use of hobbies to pass
the time, though it may also refer to other activities (for example, baseball
is often said to be America's favorite or national pastime).
 Hobbies are practiced primarily for interest and enjoyment, rather than
financial reward.
 In the 21st century, personal fulfillment is the aim of hobbies in First World
Western nations and they are widely considered to be helpful in such
societies.
 Although, in the United Kingdom (UK), the pejorative noun "anorak",
similar to the Japanese word "otaku", has the meaning of being a geek or
enthusiast, and is often applied to people who obsessively pursue a
particular hobby that others consider boring.
 Development into other ventures
 There have been instances where hobbies have led to significant
developments beyond the personal fulfillment for those involved.
 Amateur astronomers have made significant contributions to the
profession, and hobbyists have made discoveries such as finding an
unknown celestial body or celestial event.
 In the area of computer programming, the invention of the Linux kernel

6.  Etymology
 Hobbies have also risen to prominence after a period of relatively low
interest.
 For example, a British conservationist was seen wearing field glasses at a
London train station in the 1930s and was consequently asked if he was
going to the horse races.
 Whilst the general public was not aware of nature observation which was
formally conducted as field research, during the 1930s, practitioners of
the hobby went on to become the pioneers of the conservation
movement that flourished in the UK from 1965 onwards.
 Eventually, it became a global political movement within a generation's
time span.
 The hobby of collecting includes seeking, locating, acquiring, organizing,
cataloging, displaying, storing, and maintaining whatever items are of interest
to the individual collector.
 Some collectors are generalists, accumulating merchandise, or stamps
from all countries of the world.
 Others focus on a subtopic within their area of interest, perhaps 19th
century postage stamps, milk bottle labels from Sussex, or Mongolian
harnesses and tack.

7. Outdoor recreation
 Outdoor pursuits are the group of activities which occur outdoors.
 These hobbies include gardening, hill walking, hiking, backpacking,
cycling, canoeing, climbing, caving, fishing, wildlife viewing and
engaging in water sports and snow sports.
 Depending on an individual's desired level of adrenaline, outdoors
experiences are considered one type of hobby.
 While many enjoy an adrenaline rush or just an escape from reality,
outdoor recreational activities can also be an extremely effective
medium in education and team building.
 As interest increases, so has the desire for commercial outdoor
pursuits.
 Outdoor recreational supply stores have opened in large numbers and are
thriving, as have outdoor pursuit journalism and magazines, both on paper
and the Internet.
 The increased accessibility of outdoor pursuit resources has been the
source of some negative publicity over the years, with complaints of
the destruction of landscape.
 An example is the destruction of hillsides as footpaths are eroded due to an

8.  Performing arts
 Many hobbies involve performances by the hobbyist, such as
singing, acting, juggling, magic, dancing, playing a musical
instrument, martial arts and other performing arts.
 Creative hobbies
 Some hobbies result in an end product.
 Examples of this would be woodworking, photography, moviemaking,
jewelry making, software projects such as Photoshopping and home
music or video production, making bracelets, artistic projects such
as drawing, painting, writing, etc.,
 The design, creation, and wearing a costume based on an already
existing creative property - Cosplay, creating models out of card stock or
paper - called papercraft.
 Hobbies also include higher-end projects like building or restoring a car,
or building a computer from scratch.
 For computer savvy do-it-yourself hobbyists, CNC (Computer Numerical
Control) machining is also popular.
 A CNC machine can be assembled and programmed to make different parts from
wood or metal.

9.  Scale modeling/dioramas
 Making a replica of a real object in a smaller scale goes back to prehistoric
times with small clay "dolls" and other children's toys having been found near
known populated areas.
 The Greeks, Romans, and Persians took the form to a greater depth
during their years of world domination, using scale replicas of enemy
fortifications, coastal defense lines, and other geographic fixtures to
plan battles.
 At the turn of the Industrial Age and on through the 1920s, families could
often afford things such as electric trains, wind-up toys (typically boats or
cars) and the increasingly valuable tin toy soldiers.
 Model engineering refers to building functioning machinery in metal, such
as internal combustion motors and live steam models or locomotives.
 This is a demanding hobby, requiring a multitude of large and expensive
tools, such as lathes and mills.
 This hobby originated in the United Kingdom in the late 19th century, later
spreading and flourishing in the mid-20th century.
 Due to the expense and space required, it is becoming rare.

10. Scale modeling/dioramas
 Scale modeling as we know it today became popular shortly after World War
II. Before 1946, children as well as adults were content in carving and
shaping wooden replicas from block wood kits, often depicting enemy aircraft
to help with identification in case of an invasion.
 With the advent of modern plastics, the amount of skill required to get the
basic shape accurately shown for any given subject was lessened, making it
easier for people of all ages to begin assembling replicas in varying scales.
 Superheroes, aeroplanes, boats, cars, tanks, artillery, and even figures of
soldiers became quite popular subjects to build, paint and display.
 Although almost any subject can be found in almost any scale, there are
common scales for such miniatures which remain constant today.
 The most popular scales for each subject are (in order of popularity):
 In addition to plastic kits, resin has become a popular material for "short run"
productions. The level of detail is often quite exquisite, and while more
expensive than the typical plastic soldier, is much easier to work with and
modify, compared to White Metal or Pewter figures.

11. Scale modeling/dioramas
 The advent of small and cheap computers, sensors (often derived from the
smartphone industry), and radio equipment allowed hobbies such as Radio-
controlled aircraft, cars, and toy robots to become more popular.
 Scale modeling is no longer a high growth industry as it was during the
1960s and 1970s, but there are still thousands of retail shops selling kits,
supplies, paints, and tools to support new and established hobbyists.
Digitized CAD software have also contributed to this allowing accuracy of up
to 1/1000 of an inch.
 With more costly kits seeing an upward trend and youth entertainment
moving more towards computers and in-home video gaming, the average
age of the avid hobbyist is now older than ever before — with adults making
up the vast majority of enthusiasts.
 At the same time, there are probably more people building from kits now
than ever, and there is a large selection of supportive magazines such as
Fine Scale Modeler, Military Miniatures in Review (MMiR) and Tamiya
Magazine from every era.
 There are several modeling clubs in most cities, with the largest being
International Plastic Modellers' Society (IPMS). IPMS has support chapters

12. Cooking
 Cooking requires applying heat to a food which usually, though not always,
chemically transforms it, thus changing its flavor, texture, appearance, and
nutritional properties.
 It encompasses a vast range of methods and tools, and may also be used
to improve the digestibility of food.
 It may require the selection, measurement and combining of ingredients in
an ordered procedure in an effort to achieve the desired result.
 Constraints on success include the ambient conditions, tools and the skill
of the individual cook.
 The diversity of cooking worldwide reveals the myriad of nutritional,
aesthetic, agricultural, agronomic, economic, cultural and religious
considerations that have an impact upon it.
 Cooking properly, as opposed to roasting, requires the boiling of water or oil
in a receptacle, and was practiced at least since the 10th millennium BC with
the introduction of pottery.
 There is archaeological evidence of roasted foodstuffs, both animal and

13. Gardening.
 Residential gardening most often takes place in or about ones own
residence, in a space referred to as the garden. Although a garden typically
is located on the land near a residence, it may also be located on a roof, in
an atrium, on a balcony, in a windowbox, or on a patio or vivarium.
 Gardening also takes place in non-residential green areas, such as parks,
public or semi-public gardens (botanical gardens or zoological gardens),
amusement and theme parks, along transportation corridors, and around
tourist attractions and hotels. In these situations, a staff of gardeners or
groundskeepers maintains the gardens.
 Indoor gardening
 A variety of flowers and vegetables in an indoor garden.
 Indoor gardening is growing houseplants within a residence or building, in a
conservatory, or in a greenhouse.
 Indoor gardens are sometimes incorporated into air conditioning or heating
systems.
 Water gardening
 Water gardening is growing plants that have adapted to pools and ponds.
 Bog gardens are also considered a type of water garden.

14. List of Hobbies
 Indoors
 A vintage scrapbook[1]
 Amateur radio[2]
 Acting[3]
 Baton twirling[4]
 Board games[5]
 Calligraphy[6]
 Candle making[7]
 Computer programming[8]
 Cooking[9]
 Coloring[10]
 Cosplaying[11]
 Couponing[12]
 Creative writing[13]
 Crocheting[14]
 Cryptography[15]

15. List of Hobbies
 Indoors
 Dance[16]
 Digital arts[17]
 Drama[18]
 Drawing[19]
 Electronics[20]
 Embroidery [21]
 Flower arranging[22]
 Foreign language learning[23]
 Gaming (tabletop games and role-playing games)[24]
 Gambling[25]
 Genealogy[26]
 Homebrewing[27]
 Ice skating[28]
 Jewelry making[29]
 Jigsaw puzzles[30]

16. List of Hobbies
 Indoors
 Juggling[31]
 Knitting[32]
 Lacemaking[33]
 Lapidary[34]
 Leather crafting[35]
 Lego Building[36]
 Machining[37]
 Macrame[38]
 Magic[39]
 Model Building[40]
 Listening to music[41]
 Origami[42]
 Painting[43]
 Playing musical instruments[44]
 Pottery[45]

17. List of Hobbies
 Indoors
 Puzzles[46]
 Quilting[47]
 Reading[48]
 Scrapbooking[49]
 Sculpting[50]
 Sewing[51]
 Singing[52]
 Sketching[19]
 Soapmaking[53]
 Sports[54]
 Stand-Up Comedy[55]
 Sudoku[56]
 Table tennis[57]
 Taxidermy[58]
 Tinder [59]
 Video gaming[60]

18. List of Hobbies
 Indoors
 Watching movies[61]
 Web surfing[62]
 Wood carving[63]
 Woodworking[64]
 Worldbuilding[65]
 Writing[66]
 Yoga[67]
 Yo-yoing[68]
 Outdoors
 Air sports[69]
 Archery[70]
 Astronomy[71]
 Backpacking[72]
 BASE jumping[73]
 Baseball[74]
 Basketball[75]

19. List of Hobbies
 Outdoors
 Beekeeping[76]
 Bird watching[77]
 Board sports[78]
 Bodybuilding[79]
 Brazilian jiu-jitsu[80]
 Cycling[81]
 Dowsing[82]
 Driving[83]
 Fishing[84]
 Flag Football[85]
 Flying[86]
 Foraging[87]
 Gardening[88]
 Geocaching[89]
 Ghost hunting[90]

20. List of Hobbies
 Outdoors
 Graffiti[91]
 Handball[92]
 Hiking[93]
 Hooping[94]
 Hunting[95]
 Inline skating[96]
 Jogging[97]
 Kayaking[98]
 Kite flying[99]
 Kitesurfing[100]
 LARPing[101]
 Letterboxing[102]
 Metal detecting[103]
 Motor sports[104]
 Mountain biking[105]
 Mountaineering[106]

21. List of Hobbies
 Outdoors
 Mushroom hunting/Mycology[107]
 Netball[108]
 Nordic skating[109]
 Paintball[110]
 Parkour[111]
 Photography[112]
 Polo[113]
 Rafting[114]
 Rappelling[115]
 Rock climbing[106]
 Roller skating[116]
 Rugby[117]
 Running[97]
 Sailing[118]
 Sand art[119]
 Scuba Diving[120]

22. List of Hobbies
 Outdoors
 Sculling or Rowing[121]
 Shooting[122]
 Shopping[123]
 Skateboarding[124]
 Skiing[125]
 Skimboarding[126]
 Skydiving[127]
 Slacklining[128]
 Snowboarding[125]
 Surfing[129]
 Swimming[130]
 Taekwondo[131]
 Tai chi[132]
 Urban exploration[133]
 Vehicle restoration[134]
 Water sports[135]

23. List of Hobbies
 Collection hobbies
 Indoors
 Antiquing[136]
 Art collecting[137]
 Book collecting[138]
 Card collecting[139]
 Coin collecting[140]
 Comic book collecting[141]
 Deltiology (postcard collecting)[142]
 Element collecting[143]
 Movie and movie memorabilia collecting[144]
 Record collecting[145]
 Stamp collecting[146]
 Stone collecting[147]
 Video game collecting[148]
 Vintage cars[149]

24. List of Hobbies
 Collection hobbies
 Outdoors[edit]
 Antiquities[150]
 Auto audiophilia[151]
 Flower collecting and pressing[152]
 Fossil hunting[153]
 Insect collecting[154]
 Metal detecting[103]
 Mineral collecting[155]
 Rock balancing[156]
 Sea glass collecting[157]
 Seashell collecting[158]

25. List of Hobbies
 Competition hobbies
 Indoors
 Animal fancy[159]
 Badminton[160]
 Baton Twirling[161]
 Billiards[162]
 Bowling[163]
 Boxing[164]
 Bridge[165]
 Cheerleading[166]
 Chess[167]
 Color guard[168]
 Curling[169]
 Dancing[170]
 Darts[171]
 Debate[172]
 Fencing[173]
 Go[174]
 Gymnastics[175]
 Marbles[176]

26. List of Hobbies
 Competition hobbies
 Indoors
 Marbles[176]
 Martial arts[177]
 Mahjong[178]
 Poker[179]
 Slot car racing[180]
 Table football[181]
 Video Games[182]
 Volleyball[183]
 Weightlifting[184]

27. List of Hobbies
 Competition hobbies
 Outdoors
 Airsoft[185]
 American football[186]
 Archery[70]
 Association football[187]
 Australian rules football[188]
 Auto racing[189]
 Baseball[190]
 Beach Volleyball[191]
 Breakdancing[192]
 Climbing[106]
 Cricket[193]
 Cycling[194]
 Disc golf[195]
 Dog sport[196]
 Equestrianism[197]
 Exhibition Drill[198]
 Field Hockey[199]
 Figure skating[28]
 Fishing[84]

28. List of Hobbies
 Competition hobbies
 Outdoors
 Ultimate Frisbee [200]
 Footbag[201]
 Golfing[202]
 Handball[92]
 Ice hockey[203]
 Judo[204]
 Jukskei[205]
 Kart racing[206]
 Laser tag[207]
 Model aircraft[208]
 Pigeon racing[209]
 Racquetball[210]
 Radio-controlled car racing[211]
 Roller Derby[212]
 Rugby league football[213]
 Shooting sport[214]
 Skateboarding[215]
 Speed skating[28]
 Squash[210]

29. List of Hobbies
 Competition hobbies
 Outdoors
 Surfing[129]
 Swimming[130]
 Table tennis[57]
 Tennis[216]
 Tour skating[109]
 Triathlon[217]
 Volleyball[191]

30. List of Hobbies
 Observation hobbies
 Indoors
 diophilia[218]
 Fishkeeping[219]
 Microscopy[220]
 Reading[221]
 Shortwave listening[222]
 Videophilia[218]

31. List of Hobbies
 Observation hobbies
 Outdoors
 Aircraft spotting[223]
 Amateur astronomy[71]
 Amateur geology[147]
 Astrology[224]
 Birdwatching[77]
 Bus spotting[225]
 Geocaching[89]
 Gongoozling[226]
 Herping[227]
 Meteorology[228]
 People watching[229]
 Trainspotting[230]
 Traveling[72]