Ladies and Lads,
The Indibloggies, the Indian blog oscars or should I say Manikchand Gutkha Filmfare Awards are here. “Random Thoughts of a Demented Mind” has snagged a nomination in the Indiblog of the year category. Yes I am shamelessly canvassing for votes. After all, an aspiring politician has to start somewhere. So here is the link:
http://poll.indibloggies.org/index.php?sid=1 [Update: The poll has closed and hence the link is no longer valid]
You don’t need to have a blog site to vote. Leave the field blank if you do not have a blog.
Again the name of the blog is “Random Thoughts of a Demented Mind“. It is nominated in the first category (Indiblog of the year 2005) .
Deadline for voting: Jan 10, 2005. [Update: Okay this should be 2006 but after turning thirty, I have been in a state of denial with respect to the passage of time. I hope that explains this slip.]
Even if you do not vote for my blog, do cast your vote for some of the other excellent blogs nominated.
Okay that was too politically correct. Just vote for me in my category.
If I win, I shall dig two tubewells in your area, guarantee jobs for your family for all eternity, find out who killed Divya Bharati and join hands with Raj Singh Dungarpur in denouncing Sourav Ganguly.
Honest.
————
I have often wondered as to the Oscar acceptance speeches of those who lose —the ones we never hear, the ones that stay in the pocket and are torn apart in the post-Oscar party in the restoom between sniffs of white powder and tears. So here in this post, I present to you my “winning acceptance speech” for the Indibloggies—-the one which you shall never hear. Or would not have heard.
(Looking upwards at the heavens and holding back rehearsed tears) Thank you Big G. I love you. And Mum, the most important person in my life. And dad —you have been always there for me. My beautiful wife. My agent, my manager, my makeup man, my kindergarten teacher—you all know who you are. And of course my readers—the ones who voted for me...(blowing kisses)
My theme song—“Ek Do Teen Char Pyar Chahiye Kitni Baar” from Waqt Ki Awaaz plays and I know my time is over.
———————–
What I find even more intriguing is the post-Oscar bitching that goes on in the post-party where questions are asked “off record” and the ones who lost, lose the hypocritical grin and the polite claps, and let loose the fire of their angst.
Reporter: GB, How does it feel to have not won the best Indian blogger of the year?
GB (adjusting my bowtie): Dahling, read my lips. I don’t care. I mean who cares for awards anyways? The fact is that my readers love me—I get 600-1000 a visitors day—that’s love for you dahling. Day in day out. What’s one award here or there? And remember this is a popular award —-Anil Kapoor used to buy all the editions of Filmfare and win Best Actor in the 80s. And SRK won best actor for “Veer Zara”–need I say more?
Reporter: But GB you campaigned for the award remember?
GB: I did not. I was merely popularizing the blogosphere by asking people to look at the blogs that had been nominated. I do have a duty to my community. Of course I did not canvass….silly boy.
Reporter: Well you took in just a few votes. Where did your readers vanish during the polling days?
GB(angrily): Okay you impertinent lout. Listen to me once and for all. There is nothing I can do if my readers never look at the title of my blog “Random Thoughts of a Demented Mind” and go and vote for “Random Thoughts from a Confused Mind”. They just saw the first “Random Thoughts” and voted for it. Also I made a tactical mistake of putting up a picture of myself taken in the light a few days before polling—it totally scared away my female readers. And even some male ones.
In retrospect, maybe I should have used Latin for my blog title—something like “Absit invidia ” (No Offense Intended) or “Ad praesens ova cras pullis sunt meliora “( Eggs today are better than chickens tomorrow ) [mmm on second thoughts no…I might have been sured for copyright infringement by a certain management institute] or “Ad eundum quo nemo ante iit” (To boldly go where no man has gone before)—at least I would have had a shot for the best “tag-line”. Plus my blog would not have been confused with someone else’s.
And all these nice pictures of Shakti Kapoor and Mithunda did not get me a “Best Design” nomination—-politics, petty politics. If a picture of Mayawati still does not get you at least a “Best Design” nomination you can bet that there are casteist, Bramhinical forces at work.
The award was rigged I tell you.
Reporter: How?
GB: I don’t know. And I don’t care. If I did not win it, it is rigged. That’s the truth. There were powerful forces at work behind my defeat—so powerful that I don’t even know who they are.
Not that I care for awards. I blog because I want to write. Now hurry off before I stop giving interviews altogether.
———————-
Do remember to vote. And happy blogging.
The Greatbong Blog & Podcast 
If only the others could canvas the way you do…all confusion could be laid to rest
All the best! I’d wait to read the acceptance speech
Time to do something good for the Calcutta all the way blog. It hasn ‘t been nominated in single category π¦ sob sob…
“If a picture of Mayawati still does not get you at least a “Best Design” nomination you can bet that there are casteist, Bramhinical forces at work.”
I agree. I was outraged at the absence. :). And I really want to know who killed Divya Bharti
You wont thank MITHUNDA in your speech?!!!
Or is he the G that you thank at the outset?
Not only can I vote, but can also get 100 of my non existant readers to vote for the demented mind.
Do I get the Ministry of surface transport when you win the election, to help drive more traffic my way ? π
You shall have my vote. And yes—I have memorized the name “Random Thoughts of an Irritable Mind”. I am an honest voter and do not care if you dig tubewells in my village, which is a futile exercise anyway, since its up in the Himalayas nor do I care if my family has jobs for eternity. My vote for you comes without any strings attached, unless ofcourse you insist on promoting my blog: Sed Vitae….
Also please promise to keep images to a minimum on your posts. It takes ages to load the darned page.
@HutumpachA: Yes its a pity. I share the blame with everyone else— we could have nominated at least and seen how the jurors deal with it.
@Red: You shall find out. Hopefully. π
@Voice Within: When an aethist looks up towards the heaven, it can mean only one thing. Aiee salaaaaa……:-)
@Dreamweaver: I shall say yes to everything…make you transport minister with special charge of traffic and trafficing–anything for your vote and your 100 non existing readers. I wish I had listened into Jyoti Babu’s “scientific rigging” classes—his party has been winning elections for 3 decades on the basis of non-existing voters.
@Territorial Male: Point about the imeeges taken. (We call “images” “imeejes” here—its latin for “images”—or that’s what Bhappi-da says)
Again, just to add my 2 cents for Dear Greatbong:
Dear readers of this blog,
I assume that all of you read lots of blogs on the blogosphere and you have your own personal choices of Best Indiblog. However, if you are in a conundrum, Id like to request you to vote for for this particular blog. I think I dont need to point out the highlights of this blog, but Ill just like to illustrate a few unique points of this blog which dont exactly come into your mind when you think of it.
1> Humour and the lacerating wit beneath: And often there is a moral behind each post.
2> Quality and not quantity, best vocabulary, descriptive yet succint; the language is rich, soft yet hard, lively yet imperturbabble.
Note this is not exactly a blog where there are links to mainstream media. I may as well read NYT , WSJ and ALDaily for those.
3>Appeal to the subconscious mind:
As in Pink Floyd’s immortal lines from Comfortably Numb goes:
“When I was a child I caught a fleeting glimpse,
Out of the corner of my eye.
I turned to look but it was gone.
I cannot put my finger on it now.
The child is grown, the dream is gone.”
No one can bring back those dreams (at least flashes of them) back as this great blogger does. Love it , hate it, but this blog is bound to appeal to your subconscious mind.
4> Courage to have comments enabled: It takes guts to enable comments and GB has not been found wanting on those aspects. He is pure bravery and not bravado as some other prominent bloggers are. If you are a person who thinks its your fundamental right as a reader to comment on a blog , or if you dont read blogs without comments as a matter of principle, then you would be well advised to look at this blog. Mind you he has dealt with loads of contentious issues so far and he hasnt even moderated commments, let alone disable them.
Finally,specially for people in the US with broadband connection….it takes only a second to vote using the link given on this post…please do it now and encourage your friends and acquaintances also to vote ….make GB the winner. Its real quick..as quick as sending inviation to a friend to join a particualar group, as quick as forwarding one of the umpteen jokes you recieve every day. We the hardcore fans respect each persons behind every single vote for GB.
Thanks ,
yourfan2.
NB. Common pitfall to be avoided:
The name of this blog is Random Thoughts of a Demented Mind ….not Random Thoughts of a Confused Mind , another contender.
This post has been removed by the author.
sarkar ,
I bow my head infront of you ..
I am biggest fan of your musings ..
You are messiah of humour , the only savoiur we got you are “THE ALMIGHY BAKASURA”
Tell me your birth place
Mein wahan ja ke aapke gaon ki mitti lana chahta hu, mein wahan ki mitti se roz tilak karna chahta hu , jisne aap jaise surma logon ko janam diya hai
Boss , i am a sotware pro and am coming to Albeny NY by jan 20..Gimmi your phone number , i would love to talk to the Almighty in reality..
I know sarkar , its tough being born as a male and expect reply from the almighty , but sir if you are in for rough stuff , you can have my a** , thats all i have π
but please reply
aapka bhakt
Satish Jha
satya.jha@gmail.com
okk.
voted for the stony brook senior.
Duly read and voted :P. Though I may be confused π π – hehehe.
But seriously, are there any other blogs competing with greatbong in that category heheheh? Haven’t they all recalled their nominations to save them the embrassment later LOL – hehehe – I am kidding here.
Good post. I agree picture of Mayawati deserves a best designed blog nomination easily; even rabri or mithunda should have automatically guaranteed that – tch tch!
Suyog
@yourfan2: Wow I am flattered—I really am. Embarassingly so. But thanks for the kind words.
@Satish Jha: No I dont like rough stuff nor do I swing that way. And why do you think I only reply to females—-this is an equal opportunities place.
However I have a request.
I have a policy of keeping my blog and my personal life disparate and hence I am slightly reticent in giving my phone number. I would prefer all communication unrelated to a specific post be done through email..my address is given on the right hand side of the blog.
I have attended a blogger’s meet in the past (in Kolkata) however but in the blogger’s meet I attended, no personal information (eg phone numbers etc) was given, some didnt even give their names.
Again I would be happy to talk with you, but right now email would be better. Of course, this so-called policy may change while I get more socially accustomed to blogging. Trust me, personally I am kind of a quiet individual.
@DD: Bless you SB junior.
@Supremus: I wish they did. Only Amit and Gaurav has also put up “Vote For Me” signs which kind of means with Youth Curry in the phray my performance may be like Imran Khan’s party in Pakistan.
@ALL: Thank you for your votes.
I was away on official work. I really wanted to comment on your last post but boy do you write so fast!! Now there is another one Γ’β¬β your Γ’β¬ΕCampaign PosterΓ’β¬Β. I donΓ’β¬β’t find time to send comments Γ’β¬β how on earth you write posts so quickly and that too so humorous with a full time job and a family!! I honestly respect your wittiness and sometime feel jealous of you. Are you really this cool in real life!! Anyway I can go on and on and some of your detractors might think me to be you in disguise!!
You have got my vote Γ’β¬β I have already done that. I truly truly wish you to win. But in case you donΓ’β¬β’t you have at least won something Γ’β¬β that is my respect and my heart (no gibe please). And I am sure you have won many many hearts (again no wisecrack please) already.
I wholeheartedly support Yourfan2Γ’β¬β’s comments # 4 Γ’β¬ΕCourage to have comments enabled: It takes guts to enable comments and GB has not been found wanting on those aspectsΓ’β¬Β and Γ’β¬ΕMind you he has dealt with loads of contentious issues so far and he hasnt even moderated comments, let alone disable themΓ’β¬Β.
I liked both of your pictures. But I think your picture at 20 is great too.
In your last post somebody commented that he too feels like naming himself as yourfan3 Γ’β¬β I felt tremendous joy to know that so many people feel the same way as I do.
Already cast my vote for you, had a difficult time repressing the urge to carry out some rigging, using couple of bots :p.
Arnab: You have my vote simply for your excellent sarcastic humor writing.. wish I could write like that. None of the other nominated blogs seem impressive..
The first post I read on your blog was the Parnab Mukherjee one, which is still one of your best. A friend of mine from Delhi Univ forwarded me the link to that.. we were both quizzers initially impressed but later puzzled by Parnab’s quizzing style, specially the “choose any topic you want” round π .. when I find the time, I am still catching up with your posts from the times before I was your regular reader. I have also seen some of your writings posted on a discussion forum called myhotboard (I would urge you to join, as I am sure your contributions to that board would be worth reading, but I suppose continously churning out high quality blog posts is quite enough to keep you busy).
I often find myself in partial/total disagreement with what you write in your more serious posts, but I rarely comment on those because that’s not what I visit your blog for.. lot of people can come up with stuff like that but very few can match your humor.. and also, your take on the Ganguly issue (and its wider extension) is actually disappointing coming from a writer as good as you.
To both of yourfans’ statements that it takes guts to enable comments and not moderate them, I would say that comments are an integral part of a blog.. a blog with comments disabled is not a blog at all.
I believe that making someone laugh is one the MOST difficult things on the planet earth. You perform this difficult task with so much ease and do it on a regular basis that I am going to go on ‘Bhukh Hadtaal’ (Hunger Strike) if you don’t win.
All my votes belong to you! π
just a question for yourfan and yourfan2:
are you guys supposed to be agreeing to everything, or just plain fight about everything?
btw, I don’t know what you guys feel, but I can’t quite understand the basis of some nominations, or rather exclusions.
There are quite a few fabulous blogs, which most people know about, that find no place in the nominations …
@Debashish: According to your definition of a blog you wrote: Γ’β¬ΕI would say that comments are an integral part of a blog. A blog with comments disabled is not a blog at all.Γ’β¬Β Yes I agree with you completely but the reason why I said it takes guts to not disable the comments is what I experienced with some other bloggers. These bloggers (I am not mentioning them by name) religiously disabled my comments when my opinion did not tally with theirs Γ’β¬βalthough I mentioned very specific reasons behind my objections. But whenever I agreed with these bloggers they were too happy to keep them for others to see!! So you see why I mentioned that it takes guts to take criticism as GB does in his own stride.
I would any day trade one of my best qualities(if I have any) to be able to write or think so humorously as GB Γ’β¬β his sense of humor is outstanding
The latest blogger on the desi blogosphere, check out
Rants and spits of an Insurance agent. And I don’t solicit customers. This the personal life of an agent.
the last post was absolutely brilliant! too bad i missed it, so let me add my congratulations here. deadly accuracy.
as for the voting…i have my own reasons to gleefully rub my hands together! π
p.s: my apologies for the Calcutta all the way blog — i’m a hopeless administrator. but we’ve been trying to give it a better look for a while now…a better template with a linked photoblog and stuff. arnab, if you have the time, may be we can talk about this ove emails?
your picture changed…is it an attempt to garner those female votes???
@Bonatellis: I have sent you a comment in the last post. It seems you have missed reading it. There I suggested (since you wrote that you wished to nickname yourself as yourfan3) that you write Bonatellis-yourfan3. But the only point to remember is that you will find out pretty soon that you are tending to share the same mind in two other different bodies Γ’β¬β and that too in different genders!! I suppose you got your answer to the question that you asked yourfan2 and me. Thanks for asking the question.
@Bonatellis: I have sent you a comment in the last post. It seems you have missed reading it. There I suggested (since you wrote that you wished to nickname yourself as yourfan3) that you write Bonatellis-yourfan3. But the only point to remember is that you will find out pretty soon that you are tending to share the same mind in two other different bodies Γ’β¬β and that too in different genders!! I suppose you got your answer to the question that you asked yourfan2 and me. Thanks for asking the question.
P.S. I don’t know how the above comment came out as anon. I am not anon – I am yourfan who sent the last comment.
@GB:
Thankus takingus heedus to my suggestionus
Lessus imeejes willus certainly makus tu blogus downloadus fastus cus to readus tu rantus is moojik to my earus.
@yourfan: My apologies, dear lady, for not paying adequate attention π
@debashis: couldnt have agreed with you more. A no comment blog is not a blog. Its like kinda cheating….I want u to read my blog…but dont welcome ur comments…sorry…then I may as well not read your blog. Its very easy to hide behind a skirt u know.
@yourfan:
I was going through the blogs of the other contenders…some are good…you know..I am not much into blogs really…not much time left after reading NYT and other other newspapers and magazines from around the world…so I look forward to a blog with humour at the end of the day, which complements the mainstream media…and not just tries to act as a mainstream media.
Some other blogs were nicely written….felt sad for 1 guy who got into a fiasco with a school…one blog was too melodramatic…one was such that I was tempted to rename it as ” Read the full thing here”,as almost each post was like an excerpt follwed by that particular statement…well I may go to that paper and read the full thing there, why read ur blog:)) and ur imposed thoughts!….one was quite like a personal journal….
Some blogs were blatantly and shamelessly self advertising and in a subtle way promoting their friends and castigating their enemies…that not too good….which is why I was impressed when GB writes ” I write becuase I love to write”.
Anyway I voted for RTDM, Jabberwock,Sight screen , Acorn and Mercatus. i would like to know your choices too. lets see wheather we agree on voting too or not. π
Regarding the photo, I am happy that Arnab has reverted to his Birthday boy at 20s photo. He looks more like a quintessential bengali boy, who after having a good lunch of mutton biryani and fish fry is contemplating wheather to go to Pradeep to watch a movie or do some problems from Irodov’s problems in general physics or play cricket…innocent and thoughtful ..coy but definitely not shy. The last photo was more bacon and burgers and beer kind …with the leather jacket…and it seems that the PHD + politician + entrepreneur had succesfully killed the innocent boy. Im glad hes not dead.:)
@bonetallis: You are welcome boss to write yourfan 3/ bonetallis. Yeah being fans we tend to agree more than disagree . But I dont mind people who disagree with him. I like diversity of opinions. Now after reading so many yourfan’s post, i can actually guess fairly what shes going to say in reaction to what. You have a nice blog too. π
A gentle reminder: For people who have postponed their voting to enjoy their weekends, please do note that voting ends at 1:30 pm EST, 12:30 pm CSt 11:30 am MSt and 10:30 am PST tomorrow. So dont forget to vote after going to office tomorrow.
yourfan: Thanks for the clarification. Not having commented on any other blog except GB’s I neither experienced nor actually thought about the possible existence of that kind of selective comment moderation. No doubt that is in poor taste but I would still say its only honest and reasonable to treat all [non-abusive] comments equally rather than a matter of guts. In any case, if you consistently remove disagreeable comments, you probably wont be able to continuously fool even the people whose agreeable comments you do allow.
Arnab: I think that yourfans’ comments on this post might finally convince those of your detractors who think that these are identities you yourself created.. I doubt that anyone can be so exceedingly flattering to oneself even when using an anonymous identity π
@yourfan: Great to see you back. No snide remarks..but your heart and the hearts of others would be more-than-just rewards for my efforts. Sounds a bit tacky but really it is true—the loyalty of regular readers is truly a “rush” that motivates “high frequency” posting. And with respect to your comment on a previous post, its a blessing you dont look like Aishwarya—Ms Happy Plastic. Incidentally, this is a request to both yourfan and yourfan2—-it would really be nice if I could address you by your names. Or at least know who you were. If you do not want to put your identities on my blog, please do consider mailing me—I must say I am very curious.
@Anil: Aah rigging. Always like the sound of it. Though I wonder what “booth capturing” would be like in this context.
@Debashish: Thank you. Yes I know that you have been at variance with my views on Ganguly–but always look forward to your perspective on things. Also yes doing blog work, though pleasurable, does take away some time for which getting involved in too many things might be detrimental across the board. I however do some other things–Indiatimes invited me to do a news blog for their blogging platform O3 where I mirror some of my political posts from RTDM. Also on Jan 26, Blogcritics.org is going to launch its South-Asian franchise called Desicritics.org which I have been invited to be a part of. I shall provide more details in a subsequent post.
@DKJariwala: (bowing head humbly) thank you sir.
@Bonatellis: In a nominated , competitive process, there are always going to be points of disagreement. Thats natural. For instance I find the Best Tagline award to be rather funny (not in a good sense). The Best Designed Blog does not have 2 of the desi blogosphere’s best designed blogs—Santimangala’s blog and Aparna Banerjee’s blog. And for the desi blogosphere which is what, 3-4 years old, having a Lifetime Achievement is a bit….you get the message. But in all its a worthy effort.
@Bima Dalal: Maybe this is because you are new or maybe because you are a Bima Dalal, but this practice of sticking your blogs URL in a totally unrelated post is rather frowned upon. I can see that you have done this in the comments section of a few of the Indiblog nominated blogs—there is a rather derogatory term for this—which I shall not use here.
Its kinda “not on”.
@Rimi: Do get in touch. Working on the template sounds fun.That thing you did with Anjan Dutta had an amazing website.
@Anon1: Yes of course. As the polling deadline draws near, I am tempted to replace even this picture with a picture of me at 10 months—its sure to get the “aaawwww” vote.
@TerritorialMale: Shall try.
@yourfan2: Your analysis of the photo has been in splits—it was the perfect description of the “choices” open to me at the time the picture was taken…and even today beneath the leather jacket and the extra pounds, the same core person still lives. Or so I would like to believe. By the way, just to make clear, the black-and-white picture on my profile was taken in 2004.
And I totally agree with your POV regarding what a blog should be. A post on comments is something I have planned for the future.
@Debashish: I hope they have already been convinced.
@ALL: Thank you for your votes.
I did vote for you and please follow your own advise to me……leave political correctness at the door π
Hows the following slogan for your campaign “Chitti Chitti Bong Bong” where each Chitti is a vote π
Cheers
Ashit
@yourfan / yourfan2:
you should know better than to take a Bengali too seriously … I mean, pls don’t take me at face value π
Arnab,
To say that its great to get a response from you would be a big understatement .I surely do understand your concern , i was new to your blog and read all of it , in 9 hours so was just a bit excited π
Thanks a lot for replying .
Even though i may be last person to have a say on blogs , but your blog rocks.
I consider Humor to be the biggest guage of Intelligence..and you are richard friedman of humor .
I appreciated the pain taken by you to write the response .
You made me feel the Nana patekar who has just been offered the role of De Caprio in Tatanic
Thanks , keep blogging
I surely wish you win the award… It’d be nice to see another Bong joining the leagues of Mithun-da, Bappi-da and Sourav-da…
By the way, your last picture was good, only a little fuzzy… in this one you look like a philosopher π
Oops… sorry! I gave a wrong url as my webpage…
Dada!
That was great.
If you don’t win this award, I shall start sereing a ‘foreign hand’ in the rigging.
Your blog on the awards lead me to think of India and our image in the world arena. Do Indians lack organizations that promote India in the International arena, that boost our public image ?
India, a multicultural society, contributed immensely to Society (say our Dharma), Knowledge (right from Ship Building, Sashtras to Mathematics, Avaita), and political science (Arthashashtra for e.g.), medicine (ayurveda) over 2 millennium
However, thanks to the invasions and colonial legacy, we were stuck with a curry and snake charmers image for a few 100 years. Even now we seemed to have shaken that thanks to Info Tech and IT pros.
Be it politics or social issues, Why do Indians whip ourselves in public ? Look at the Ramdev Issue. We don’t need Witzels and outsiders to smear us
Are we turning into a self hating civilization or is our media Left and anti Indian ?
More at
Gudia, a Muslim girl and Ramdev ji, a Hindu male !!
Vinayak
All the best sir.. I couldn’t even think of any other blogs anyway..
It was really difficult to choose between yours and Gauravs blog as his was the blog through which I got to know you… “A beautiful mind” post..
I have read each and every post of yours till date- everyone from your first to the last one, comments included. Only other blog that I’ve read fully is of Gaurav’s.
After much thinking the vote goes to you. (Wish I could vote both of you.)
And yeah, I sure want two tube wells in my area and soft approach towards Sharad Pawar.. He is really better than most of his contemporaries :-)).
Best Luck Dude.. You simply rock.
Accha…Being the ass that I am; I am here to discuss the deal… I vote … and you finish my research?…yes…agreed:)
I am sure you will win!
Arnabda
Best of luck. You have my vote. BTW shoudnt the deadline be 10 Jan 2006 ..Unless there is some time travel thingie that I have missed out on π
Been there, done that.
GB: I think i read in your blog that you get 600-1,000 hits a day. Just a suggestion (before yourfan and yourfan2 beat me to it) – have you ever thought of allying with any blog cartel to boost your daily hits?
Cartels are known to have that kind of an impact in real life and may, just may, have that kinda impact in our e-lives as well.
cheers.
Boss, have voted for you. The choice was quite clear, esp after your fine presentation of your robust platform.
By the way, here’s an inspired name for Dungarpur: the raja of dungheap. Well, by his assinine comments, i think dungheap has made it virtually certain that sourav will play in the first test. or else, it’ll seem continuing victimisation of the guy for non-cricketing reasons. just learnt that the maximum temp in lahore on the first day of the test will be 11 degrees. hope our guys can hold their bats!
@Ashit Sinha: The slogan sounds good….now just hope the “chithi”s make their way into the vote box.
@Satish: Thank you π
@Sugata: Thank you for complimenting the last picture. I thought yourfans 1 and 2 were the only ones who liked it.
@Soham: I would so too. Also I would claim that my phones are being tapped. And there are animal bones inside the steak I ate. Oops ok forget the last point.
@Vinayak: I am soo gratified that my post on voting for Indibloggies got you ranting about Gudiya. Aaah the “Protection of the Indian family” people…
@Anthony: Thank you.
@Ritzy: Thank you for your vote. As jabberwock points out, the Indiblog category is very crowded—its really a difficult choice with so many very good blogs in that list.
@SD: Finish research ! Far easier to dig tubewells and find out who killed Divya Bharati.
@Arun: After becoming 30, I subconsciously try to roll back the clock whenever I see an opportunity.
@Dipthought: Thank you.
@Bonatellis: Mmm the only cartel I know of is the so-called “liberterian cartel” and its all very hush hush and selective. Would prefer the quality of my writing to bring in more visitors.(and naughty google terms—you wont believe how many people come here looking for naughty Kolkata boudis)
@Rani: Dungheap is senile—I mean I understand his hatred of Ganguly but why show your hand in front of the world? Wouldnt he be better served by performing backroom machinations while maintaining a veneer of impartiality ? 11 degrees—this seems to be Napier rather than the subcontinent.
so are you saying you are not a libertarian?
Mind your words now, you’re being watched … there could be that either-you-are-with-us-or-against-us way of looking at things π
consider this part of your post-win interview :p
@Bonatellis: If it helps me to win, I can be liberterian, socialist, anarchist, manuvaadi, feminist: any label is fine. But seriously I do not want to be labelled—my support for various political schools of thought are merely issue-based.
bhai, voting complete … ebaar egono jaak π
I don’t usually like commenting on other people’s comments, but have to say this. Bonatellis: the either-you-are-with-us-or-against-us way of looking at things applies a lot more to the people who have been heaping tasteless personal abuse on the libertarians. Seems to me those guys are the real “cartels” (with all the mafia implications of the word). Also, that bit about “allying with any blog cartel to boost your daily hits” is a pretty tasteless remark in my view (and one short step away from the T R Vivek School of Self-Righteousness) – but well, I suppose you have your reasons for it.
Arnab, whether you want to be labelled or not is immaterial. If people want to label you they’ll go ahead and do it anyway. It really is laughable. I’m still not even completely sure what the word “libertarian” means but I’ve got plenty of comments and emails accusing me of sucking up to Amit V and the “cartel”. There’s just no way you can stop people from second-guessing your motives.
Jai: I guess u got the spirit of the comment ALLL wrong … but anyways π
after all, English is a language of understatement, as they say.
@Jabberwock: Very enlightening. I didnt know that this cartel thing was this serious (ie to the level of abuse) —I kind of thought it to be good natured friendly banter. Its true that it is other people who label you but sometimes you do label yourself too—–I mean there are blogs where the bloggers call *themselves* feminists or liberterians.
@Bonatellis: I have moved on since the Indibloggies—its just that right now I am learning Photoshop to make a decent banner for the Calcutta blog. Its kinda taking more time than I thought—at this age, new technology filters through a bit slower than one would like.
GreatBong,
I know Photoshop, so if you need any help using that software or help in making a banner, drop me an email at dkjariwala AT gmail.
@DkJariwala: Thank you…now I know whom to bother when I get stuck.
sorry dude. inspite of me voting for you, you still lost. but 2nd isnt bad either. i would congratulate you for that. btw, i recently discovered your blog and spent a whole day reading all the archives. this is undoubtedly the best blog i have ever read.