IndiBlogger Weekly Diary | Edition 10
Welcome and welcome! The IndiBlogger Weekly Diary celebrates its 10th post with this special edition! The IndiTroll makes his first appearance on the forum with the intention of causing pain; we read some posts on other pains in the royal a$$, including BeefGate, LawyerGate, DocumentaryGate and I don’t think this covers the half of it! For our cover story this week we take a deeper look at the forum and understand how it has become a hub of learning for Indian bloggers.
As this is an extra special edition we are giving away a set of IndiMug and IndiMagnet for the winners of this week’s comments! Yes you can own both with a single comment on any thoughts you have on this week’s post; including the question of the week!
MEME WARS!
The IndiTroll made its first appearance on the IndiBlogger forum. No one has any idea how it managed to create an account without a blog! The Sorcerer is currently taking the MEME WAR fight to the creature. I hear there is a bit of history between the Sorcerer and the IndiTroll on FB of a legendary meme war that has been waged for many moons. Then some brainiac decided to take it up on IndiBlogger. I suggest that you head over there and join the apocalypse.
Talking about memes, we have a contest in memes! We don’t run too many contests on twitter because we stick to blogging for the most part , but this was harder to resist! This is one of the few times we have separate prizes for Facebook, Twitter and blog posts! So head on over and take your pick!
Here are a few examples as posted by bloggers:
#FarMoreSingapore @indiblogger pic.twitter.com/X5Mbsl5HQc
— Anupama/P&B (@divallista) March 13, 2015
She is still slim though. #FarMoreSingapore pic.twitter.com/X7M6HTXypf
— Jay (@iamjayneog) March 12, 2015
I am Vegetarian. But YOU don’t have to be! There’s #FarMoreSingapore for everyone to enjoy. pic.twitter.com/vPo0lP14tF
— Pragati (@KamalKitchen) March 15, 2015
#FarMoreSingapore @indiblogger #Meme pic.twitter.com/IM6UQ1syT3 — Sonaal (@i_assess) March 14, 2015
The Real Brains Behind IndiBlogger:
For our cover story this week, we look at the IndiBlogger forum; or IndiForum as some like to call it. When we first launched the forum a few years ago, we were met with much skepticism. Most of our partners thought it was very web 1.0 and it wasn’t going to be a very useful solution. We launched it anyway. We just wanted a place where members could discuss everything about blogging.
An IndiForum for your thoughts?
On the IndiForum, there are over 5000 topics that cover every aspect of blogging including questions for beginners, customization and monetisation of blogs, among other things. It is a treasure trove on everything blogging 🙂
The below table shows the number of topics under each category.
Take these topics for for example:
Complete Guide to Improve your Blog’s Traffic & Value by Debajyoti Das. This post was created six years ago but still finds its concepts relevant today.
https://www.indiblogger.in/forum/topic.php?id=33
This is another topic on a selfless request by Aditya Dey to urge IndiBlogger members to review each other’s blogs and encourage them.
https://www.indiblogger.in/forum/topic.php?id=15447
There is a lot of encouragement for newbie bloggers as Aersh Danish points out in this topic that helps break the ice.
https://www.indiblogger.in/forum/topic.php?id=16721
The young ones have their own club with this topic; Young bloggers, I mean Teen, early twenty bloggers.. out here? by Jaynth Busi
https://www.indiblogger.in/forum/topic.php?id=17248
Some topics are simple yet inspiring for many. Let us introduce ourselves to the Indiblogger community is one such topic. If you haven’t said hello on the forum yet, this is a nice place to start!
https://www.indiblogger.in/forum/topic.php?id=325
Hey and whatdayaknow!! The IndiBlogger Weekly Diary has a topic too! created by Tanishq
https://www.indiblogger.in/forum/topic.php?id=20379
Ritu, on the other hand, with an army of smileys, just decides to go to the “Content and Inspiration” section and talk about DDLJ!
https://www.indiblogger.in/forum/topic.php?id=16414
The popular topics on the IndiForum!
One of the key things for us was to make a clean forum and, to do that, we had to keep an eye on everything. However, things changed when people were commenting in the forum by the thousands and then the infamous IndiPolice was created. If this was an episode of Homeland, I would like to think of these guys as the CIA working to keep IndiBlogger free of spammers and shameless people looking to harm the community in some way. DS, Animesh (hey, your domain name has expired dude) and Karthik are the top 3 bounty hunters! :-). These guys have a lot of knowledge on the rules that govern the forum, however, if a thread is locked for some reason and you feel it was legitimate, there is nothing to worry about, just raise a ticket and we will do the needful.
The proverbial $h1t hits the fan!
The BBC documentary that was banned in India was amusing. I remember some of the IndiBlogger guys were in Delhi at the time. One of the neighbors in our guest house walked in and asked us to download the documentary because he didn’t have a fast internet connection! We didn’t because we were in the middle of some work. It seemed like his whole family had made popcorn and decided to watch it as a “dinner and a movie” concept. The funny thing is that it’s a documentary! With most Indians watching Ye Hai Mohabbatein and Comedy Nights with Kapil and sports and regional movies; I don’t think many would have given too much thought towards a documentary, whatever the content.
If the government had banned the video to increase awareness about the documentary and increase piracy in India, then it is an awesome move by them. Heck! Now people who haven’t heard of the internet will be like “Oh! You can download movies on the internet?? for free???” Strange times!
As if things couldn’t get any worse, Maharashtra decided to go and ban beef. Beef is a source of protein for many across the world. My problem with such laws is that it shows that we are not united in our diversity and our text books were wrong to tell us that “India is a democratic and secular country”. As a layman in this whole charade, I don’t see anything democratic or secular about this law. What’s your take on this show? May be you can express it in a meme 😉
Here are some posts on the various issues highlighted over the past few days!
Nabanita decided to go ahead and talk about those things that were irking her in this post:
http://www.nabanitadhar.in/2015/03/makeithappen-for-indias-daughters.html#.VQKhfUa5ZBw
A post on Indian women and their leaders by Tomichan Matheikal
http://matheikal.blogspot.in/2015/03/indian-women-and-their-leaders.html
A post by Desh Kapoor with an analysis on the banned video:
A post on why rape jokes are not funny by Swati:
http://www.coleswa.com/just-how-funny-are-rape-jokes/
A post in Hindi on India’s daughter by Ashu from Kolkata
http://chaupal-ashu.blogspot.in/2015/03/indias-daughter.html
Is Gmail and Yahoo also going to be axed next?
http://kemquillity.blogspot.in/2015/03/gmail-and-yahoo-should-be-banned-in.html
An interesting analysis on Beef and its perception by Ramani
https://ramanan50.wordpress.com/2013/07/10/ambedkar-untouchability-meat-beef-eating/
Roohi points out the Stairway to heaven in this post
http://www.roohibhatnagar.com/2015/03/she-needs-closure-to-rest-in-peace.html
Are you tired of BANS??? then you gotta read this by Chamatkar India
http://chamatkarindia.blogspot.in/2015/03/we-are-tired-of-bans-open-letter-to.html
The mutinous Indian has an open letter:
http://www.mutinousindian.in/2015/03/indias-daughter-be-very-afraid-to-be-one/
Is the ban justified? A blogger uses her fashion blog to air her view.
http://beautyandindulgence.blogspot.in/2015/03/indiasdaughter-is-ban-justified.html
A reaction to an age old prejudice with another open letter:
http://choirsofaheart.blogspot.in/2015/03/dear-sister.html
Another open letter :
http://www.abhisheksharmaspeaks.com/rajnath-singh-rapists-interview-by-bbc/
Another post on BeefGate
http://sanjaythampy.blogspot.in/2015/03/i-have-beef-against-beefban.html
Monsoon Breeze tries to understand the latest ban on beef
http://monsoonbreeze123.com/2015/03/04/the-land-of-holy-cows/
The budget analyses was another topic with a number of bloggers submitting posts towards it.
Here are some posts to help you understand the INs and OUTs:
https://anandkumarrs.wordpress.com/2015/03/01/sir-a-plus-budget/
http://www.health2-wealth.com/union-general-budget-2015-16-income-tax-rates/
http://voicefromtherooftop.com/1682/india/budget-2015/
http://www.emptyengine.com/2015/03/impact-of-union-budget-2015-on-middle.html
http://www.emptyengine.com/2015/02/top-10-questions-related-to-union.html
http://www.sandipsabharwal.com/?p=1141
http://www.reviewstoday.in/2015/02/review-railway-budget-2015-by-modi.html
http://bhavikkshah.blogspot.in/2015/03/union-budget-2015-16-highlights.html
http://reflectionsvvk.blogspot.in/2015/03/the-union-budget-2015-2016.html
Winners of Edition 9:
We received tons of response for last week’s question on Twitter/micro-blogging vs blogging. Here are some of the answers that we picked:
http://changethestylenow.blogspot.in/
http://blogwatig.com/
http://kaapitimes.wordpress.com/
http://www.roohibhatnagar.com/
Wrapping up with Question of The Week:
With all the strange things happening to bloggers who speak their mind across the world, do you feel that you could be prosecuted for airing your views on your blog if your wrote against certain policies by entities related to the governments? YES or NO and why?
So until next time, here’s to special days ahead for you on IndiBlogger!
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So much has happened in the past weeks, Anoop.
Great job consolidating all the events into a single edition of the IndiDiary.
And with that, the edition count hits the famed double digits – Yay! 🙂
The current affairs have been set abuzz by India’s Daughter – rightly so, World’s Daughter. Also, we’ve gone the extra edge in proclaiming ourselves as a ban-loving country. We’ve supposedly banned all which was ‘wrong.’ We’ve failed to realize that our perception of ‘wrong.’ is itself wrong on a variety of grounds.
The number – crunching at IndiBlogger continues with this edition as well. Good to see the stats guiding us in a plethora of directions.
I feel I’ve created most threads announcing IndiMeets at Delhi, for instance, the Tricity one with Kotak or the family oriented reunion with HP Ink Advantage in 2013. Always have fun at meets, looking forward to them to return to Delhi.
It’s also good to observe a statistical round-up of the members of the IndiPolice – DS, Animesh, The Fool, Sorcerer, Hemal, and Vinay. 🙂
I had the best laughs with Ritu’s thread on DDLJ – smiley style. Revisited the entire thread, and marveled at how it has been an entire year already since we had so much fun with emoticons! 😀
Gosh! Time sure has wings! 🙂
The IndiTroll from Trollsville taking Sorcerer head to head had me grinning. We’re having a meme overload here, on FB and Twitterverse as well. For me at least, I’m seeing the Takeaway image everywhere!
Good to see fellow IBians voicing their concern and opinion over some issues which have rocked the country and the world so hard, in this month, while we had the budget announcement from Mr. Jaitley’s side too. 🙂
I’m closing my comment with my view on this week’s question.
Freedom of speech is a fundamental right bestowed upon citizens of countries across the world.
There is a fine line between disagreeing with someone’s opinion and lashing out at them, defying their perspective altogether.
And, when the state or central government lash out like that, it is something which renders me speechless.
I am unknown to the way I’d react if we come to the way of prosecuting an individual for voicing their opinion! I’m afraid to walk down that lane, that abyss…
Yours truly has written about two key events in the recent past – the massacre at Charlie Hebdo, and the death of India’s ‘Common Man’, on the blog
I do not feel that I could be prosecuted for channeling my views via my blog (certainly hope so and hope keeps the world alive, doesn’t it?) as I believe in gift-wrapping the shoe before hurling it at a wrong-doer, it has a feel-good factor associated.
I always attempt to maintain a subtlety and diplomatic viewpoint around any issue I’m throwing light on, at the blog.
I’ve never gone the sarcastic way, though but I feel sarcasm should also do the trick when you’re pointing out a grave mistake to someone.
—
My Grammarly tells me that the text enclosed with the pair of ‘—‘ counts to 495 words! Maybe, I could have blogged about it, altogether – ‘Of IndiDiary 10, And An Honest Comment.’ 😀
It was shocking to know of rape of elderly nun in Kolkata, rapist have raped a woman of the age of a granny, what more shameful could be than that. Even respected elderly nuns are not spared by misguided youth of our country. Really don’t know how to react. These rapists should be shamed publicity, why keep them under trial even for a day. They are behind the bars, ear, drink and be merry like Mukesh Singh is doing even after years of heinous crime. What good it is doing for the image of our country.
You bet, our blogspace sanctity is threatened, i had to replace the word “modified ” to altered to get itimes.com accept the blog. For now its middle finger for gravitational drainage to itimes.com
Are those IP stats not supposed to be a secret? Well, we have just had our version of IndiLeaks!! 😀
This is a good post, long awaited too, gives an insight in to the forum.
I think that there is certainly a hint of fear when bloggers air their views on the policies of the government as you never know when there will be a backlash.
IndiLeaks! Lol…
Good Job getting on top of the “IndiSafai Abhiyaan” 😉
Well, I feel if I write on an issue that is against government’s policy it may backfire. This is one thought that actually came in my mind while I was writing a post about the views expressed by the lawyer of Nirbhaya’s rapists in India’s Daughter documentary. (The documentary is banned for public view in India.)
I feel the right to freedom of speech and expression has got bounded somewhere in the recent years and fear of a big bawal is always there at the back of mind. This is not restricted to one country or only blogging, but it has become a global trend spreading across all creative endeavors. It may be restricting filmmakers on scenes with protagonist drinking or smoking to arresting cartoonists for making political cartoons. Then why can’t a blogger be prosecuted considering ‘words’ are taken far more seriously than any other media! Further today a major chunk of people seek news and information from internet.
However, I also feel that blogging should be done responsibly. Blatant lambasting some brand or a restaurant etc. due to a single bad experience can seal the fate of the entity.
I see in this week’s diary edition that many people including me have penned their agreements & disagreement strongly on issues that were in the news recently and still are hale & hearty. So to conclude the condition is still not that serious and at least I shall continue expressing my honest heartfelt opinions. (P.S.: Inditeam you missed mentioning my blog post in this week’s diary edition 🙁 and sorry for a mini blog as an answer to this week’s question.)
I am glad that after all, Indiblogger did not ignore the topic that I raised on the forum about showing solidarity with bloggers such as Avijit Roy who was brutally murdered for his explosive writings in his blog.
Thanks IB, for giving a thought on your weekly diary about the activist bloggers who get persecuted by authoritarian governments.
The situation is no better in India. Two years ago, a couple of girls were arrested in Thane, Maharastra for their post on fb questioning the shutdown in Mumbai following Bal Thackeray’s death. We have a draconian law in Sec 66-A of IT act which gives government enormous powers to prosecute and prevent people’s communication over the internet. For example, one can be jailed for over 3 years if found guilty of causing “annoyance or inconvenience” through social media.
Till now, Indian bloggers have escaped from becoming victims to this act. But with the raising chauvinistic attitude in some sections of the population, Indian bloggers are not as safe as before. Even a little criticism of the government is being termed as anti-national. The act is like a dangling sword over each blogger’s head and at any time, we cross the ‘limits’, it could drop on us.
But I believe, Indian bloggers would continue to criticize their governments as many of us did this week about the government’s ban on beef and the documentary. Let us hope this continues and that government dilutes Sec 66A, allowing free speech without the fear of arrest.
Supreme court comes to the rescue of Bloggers!
Striking down of Sec 66-A is a landmark decision by the highest court restoring right to freedom of expression over the internet.
My above comment is mostly invalid now. But I am glad about it 🙂
First of all, if this is a weekly edition, how come it rarely appears weekly? Either post it weekly or change the name to Random Diary 🙂
The Indimagnet and Indimug have been promised for every comment, right? Just asking.
I agree that the ban on the BBC documentary just served the purpose of making it go viral on Youtube. I can just imagine people sitting down to watch it with popcorn, even if you have just said it in jest. Sad and disgusting state of affairs.
LOL! The meme war is funny. IB don’t ban IndiTroll yet, allow him to keep the entertainment on for some time.
And thanks for featuring my #FarMoreSingapore Meme. 🙂
In response to the Question of the week, I believe that with the weird things happen in India nowadays, it is highly probable that I may be prosecuted if I write something that our rulers don’t like. But I am also certain that they cannot do me any harm. Maybe a legal notice to bring down that post but nothing more than that. If they declare a death penalty against me, I know people from every blogging community will raise their voice for me. Raif Badawi’s incident wouldn’t had been possible in a democracy. If our govt harms me because I blogged about something that offended their views, other bloggers are going to hit them back harder.
We live in a Democracy and our very own Constitution gives us very right to express ourself.A hell lot of things is going on these days from BBC’s documentary on Nirbhaya Rape Case,Beef-Ban in Indian States,an elderly Nun Raped to a FB post mentioning UP minister Azam Khan resulting to jail.With the Indian government banning India’s Daughter,a lot has been discussed over the future of Internet in India.With large number of sites(including pornsites and whistle-blower Savakku’s site :p) getting banned, alot has been criticised over Indian government’s stand regarding the internet censorship issue and a heavy comparison is drawn with China’s policy.
With Internet spreading its wing slowly and steadily,social networking and blogging seems to be catching up.A blog seems to provide a ideal platform for one to open up his mind and share his/her views and make it available to the mass.Be it a FB post,140 character tweet or a much evaluated blog everyone has its own way or right to express and open up.But to many dismay one have to think hundreds of time before posting something over the World Wide web because one never know how would other take it.Number of cases from the shiv seniks bursting into a girl’s house who questioned late Shiva Sena’s Supremo Bal thackerays status over internet to the very recent jailing of a 19 years old student over a post has been rising very rapidly.On one hand where the Government is speaking very highly over its Digital India Initiative its handling of the sensitive issue has a very different story to tell.Internet has become a very important tool and blogging has become a great medium to share views but with current situation there is certainly a hint of fear in a blogger’s mind when one thinks to air his/her views on the policies of the government or related stuff as you never know when there will be a backlash.
Ooooooooooh finally the weekly edition of IB blog.. I was checking for it everyday!! Thanks for selecting me one of the winner for last edition.. Anoop, you are the man of your words.. 😛 🙂
But how come no word on the hottest Happy hour of all times – Housing (chuckles) I am actually planning to get an iPad now thanks to these generous HH (giggles)
On a serious note, as I browsed through the news reports of DK Ravi’s suspicious death and no progress in Nirbhaya’s case, I felt a surge of fear inside me. Fear of what country we are living in. Here cold-blooded criminals are freely committing crimes and justice takes forever to conclude the ‘case’. In such times, yes, I am scared as a blogger, as a peace loving common man to voice my opinion against some trash government policy. Aren’t we living in an animal farm? But would that stop me from speaking up? NO.Perhaps, here is where the human spirit pitches in. Here is where the conscience says better to be annihilated than to seal the lips against wrong. Here is when the hope refuses to die. I feel like singing and calling people like me and you, like Katniss Evergreen:
Are you, are you
Coming to the tree
Wear a necklace of rope, side by side with me.
Strange things did happen here
No stranger would it be
If we met up at midnight in the hanging tree.
IB team, I have already announced how HH has made me greedy. As I type besides my sleeping daughter at 1:55 am, I am side by side, dreaming about that mug and that magnet (zzzzzzz)
Bans are foolish. They serve no purpose. Instead, they let even those who were never going to watch that movie or read that book seek it out.
Of course, bloggers must not be punished for speaking their mind. I hope there is a sense of self-regulation in bloggers too. Freedom of speech does not equate to nastiness or creating unnecessary controversies. In my case, I am all for freedom of speech as long as no one makes fun of me. 😀
I agree with Zephyr above, call it Indi Random Diary. And guys, India is in the semi finals. We are having a dream run at the World Cup and you guys didn’t even mention. Anoop, not done!
Have a great week, folks!
Wow! The 10th edition of IndiDiary is here and I missed on the swags again! 🙁 But that doesn’t deter me from writing 🙂
Yes, over the last couple of days – things have been dark. There were bans, murders and a famous blogger who was murdered for what he wrote. Who would have thought that’s also possible in India? Yes, I am scared of being prosecuted for what I write but that doesn’t deter me from writing. I microblogged when our intellectual minister said that Yoga will bring down rapes and though I haven’t yet blogged on India’s Daughter, I went on to Wikipedia to edit pages on Leslee Udwin and India’ Daughter. Want to know what happened? My content was modified to such an extent that currently I don’t even feel I had touched the article. Not just that – would you believe that Leslee Udwin’s Wiki page with as less as 100 words has been edited more than 50 times? And the page on the documentary has more than 250 edits. See this http://2015.wikiwomen.in/ to validate what I mean to say.
Why I am telling you this? I feel that sometimes you are faced with bias, criticism, imprisonment and sometimes your content is taken away – but that doesn’t stop you from thinking so why should you stop writing? Yes, I am scared every time I write something sensitive – I imagine my door being banged upon at night to take me in and I hope that day never comes. In the meanwhile, I just go write.
Thanks Anoop for a great question! As you can see, I could not stop writing 🙂
Rachana, here I was applauding Indiblogger for abstinencefrom cricket. 🙂
I seemed to have openned by mouth and put my foot into it, just read the flak I got for calling the indispire prompt as mundance. I stand by it though.
I reminded of the astrologer who told a king he will loose his son,and wife he was fined for it, But when another astrologer told the King, that he will outlive his dear ones, he was rewarded, speaking one’s mind is fine, but how we put it is important.
Thank God tonsils don’t affect writing ability or I wouldn’t have been able to say what I wanted to here as well what with having lost my voice for the past two days and all! Damn you tonsil infection, may you be banned next!
Moving to the topic of conversation here. I think we have become very intolerant as a country. Or, rather a certain powerful section has become very intolerant. From minute things to huge issues, our attitude has suddenly started bordering the ‘my way or the highway’ philosophy. I still don’t get why we have to ban things. Banning the documentary is not the solution and banning beef, well, what do I say about that! Eat what you want to and let others eat what they want to. But then who will listen to me? I’m just a minion.
In our blogosphere too, intolerance is at it’s peak. I’m all for different views. In fact, that’s how we can come to the correct solution, if at all any. But if you write down something that ,say, Mr. X doesn’t agree to be sure to receive a comment that will make you sick to your stomach. Rational discussion is so off the table whether in the parliament, public forums or even through our blogs. I have faced it several times especially when I write about issues affecting women..But then they are not so scary as say someone who can put you in jail just because your views don’t gel with him or her..
Oh by the way Indiblogger thanks for my new Microwave 😉 what with all the happy hour vouchers and all :D.. Did you know you can use up to 16 vouchers in Flipkart? I’ve already begun saving for a new fridge!
Thanks for the Mention of my write up on Beef Ban.
Coming to the topic.. Well, there is always the risk when we speak up our mind through the media. It really shows the power of Media.
Bans, controversies etc. come and go! We write, we tweet, and the only thing that is happening is people who speak up gets targeted! What needs to be changed does not change!!
But then we can’t say! There shall come a point of time when it all gets saturated and the change that was long due happens! Until then let’s keep writing and expressing our views 🙂
Yes, of course India has Freedom of Expression and Freedom of Speech only to mention in the fundamental rights, it is far behind from reality. With Ban on everything, people getting murdered because they expressed their thoughts its time to rephrase- “Pen is mightier than a sword, only if the Pen comes from a person who had that sword.”
By the way, the weekly edition is as usual good but its not weekly nI feel. Indiblogger & Anoop need some help, I can pitch in 😉 provided please give me the combo- Indimug and magnet. please, please, please !!!! 😀 😛
Thank you for selecting my comment as last week winner. Do I get the ultimate Indiblogger mug?
For this weeks question –
With the strew of arrests, protests, bans in current times for voicing one’s own opinions, and the unnecessary vigilantism by a fringe of society, it is becoming difficult to say what is on one’s mind. You never know who will get offended. Even worse, how they will react to being offended. A society where innocent minors are arrested for Facebook comments and likes, vandalizing properties and getting away with it, it is indeed a scary situation. The voice of dissent needs to be heard in a democratic country. Everyone has the freedom of speech, but how one reacts to it, is what differentiates a democracy from a dictatorship.
I seriously loved this Meme War and now because of Indiblogger i am getting addicted to Memes.
The beef ban, a buzzing topic! I don’t think the jokes going around it and people getting mad on beef ban is justified because i ask many of my muslim friends , they say they respect other’s religion and don’t do something that will hurt other’s religion. Yes,beef is only ban because of religion and its OK
And Yes, blogger and whoever spoke freely about their opinion on social media and internet are getting targeted.
Recently their was a case on 12th grade student who expressed some views on his fb timeline and get arrested for it. The politician to whom which the post of fb refers to was taking pride telling media that such people will be punished. I really don’t know what kind of internet protection law is this. You give us the right to speech , to express views and at the same time you can’t post your view on social media or blog? Its seems legit to me.
I am really happy to see my name and comment selected as last edition’s winner. It is always fun to share my views on Indiblogger and read other’s views too.
Congo to the winners for the coveted mugs and magnets(wish I could use envy-green ink :p)
Now starting a little off-track from the question-
When I applied for a Leave-without-pay from my government job, it was tough to convince the officials that I was actually turning down pay-cheques and promotion ‘just to raise my kids’ and take a breath to ‘feel’ life.As nobody from family to colleagues believed me ,my posts and FB account were/are always under the scanner. There are times when I receive calls (to put it mildly) after a holiday post or a fb update asking if I have ‘joined somewhere’ as I am living so lavish! I even got my phone-calls recorded by a newspaper reporter !
Taping my phone, bugging me with calls and legal-notices, that’s also a type of bullying which on bigger/national level becomes a Ban or a Fatwa…
Insecure, frustrated, weak people impose bans.Yeah..it sure affects me but only to live on my own terms and write with more zeal and relevance,to be more transparent and vocal.Though irregular, I am a passionate blogger and whatever little time I get after skits,exams,olympiads,picnics and a life without maid, is precious for me and when I devote that time to blogging,it says a lot about my love for it.
When I avoid social issues on my blog,it’s because of the nadir the hue and cry achieves and my subsequent depression.The recent RaviKumar’s case is the latest example if we ignore all those crimes in Bangalore alone against toddlers of 2-3 years in BIG schools collecting hefty fees!One can see the admission open ads of ‘that’ school (daily) in the same paper which carried the report against it.
Bottom-line is YES I’ll speak,write,paint,post as I wish/feel but I would like to die AFTER executing my ideas n expressions!
Expressing ought to be constructive and productive … like after Nirbhaya ALL working females of India could not have worked ..lets say, not a single one- IT girls, models,actresses,teachers,lawyers, washerwomen,flower women, garment workers..till justice is done.Imagine SRK/Rohit Shetty waiting for Deepika/priyanka to turn up! In lack of this solidarity I respect the alternatives of #comments,posts and candle marches as these let us vent out our angst and voice our concern BUT I yearn for more.
Anyway Thanks IB Team for the opportunity to ‘unburden’ my soul in this mini-post :p 🙂
You guys ROCK ! Dil Se..
Kokila if mini cigars are cigarettes, and mini books are booklets do mini blogs become bloglets? I mean bloglette….
Microblog? 😛
First of all congratulations to the winners of the last edition.
The 10th edition of the IndiDiary is amazing! A great rundown of everything that has been happening on my favorite blogging forum.
The Meme wars have provided some much needed comic relief from the all the recent disturbing happenings. The statistics are really insightful and I loved the cover story. Indiblogger is an integral part of my blogging journey and I owe so much to this vibrant community of bloggers for with each post there is something new to learn for me.
Now my answer on this weeks question with another one of my rhymes 🙂
If we wrote against the government,
What would be the treatment?
Will our blogs be banned?
Our voices muted from taking a stand?
No source to express our thoughts,
Will our voices be completely lost?
But that’s far from what every indiblogger thinks,
Because We blog, therefore we are (winks).
Three cheers for the 10th edition of the IndiDiary!!!
No, I don’t feel that way. I have been criticizing all popular government policies in the name of women empowerment and I know my limits. Freedom of speech does not mean I am free to talk anything. If a blogger speaks with integrity and honesty and knows how to speak his / her mind, one will never be punished. It is when bloggers speak out of emotion without much logic, they get to see the wrong side of the law.
If this was the case then many bloggers who had supported lynching in Dimapur could have actually punished, or many blogger who pro-actively spread ‘India’s Daughter’ in-spite of this being an anti Indian film would have already been punished.
I am getting more aware of the issues from a commoner’s point of view, rather than getting stuck in front of the tv with journalists banging on the point that they think is relevant. Even with the AIB roast, they all agreed that it was harmless jokes. And those against the show were given fewer minutes to speak. Even with indibloggers questions of the week, i recognized that simple things in life have to be given a thought. What makes you happy, what was the most wonderful moment are such questions that you tend to forget and crib more in life. I enjoyed writing about these and shared with the people i love and respect.
Criticizing government policies can have a 50-50 chance depending about what I speak about. Government policies are generally made in favor for the citizens of the country and hardly there will be any chance where they may be against the people.
But some issues can also get me into trouble such as speaking something against the government. For example: In my city Mumbai some politicians are against the people who are migrating from Uttar Pradesh and Bihar to our city, some of their actions in the past such as attacking the students who came to appear for the Railway exams and not allowing them to appear in the exams. Such incidents really make us feel shame about the tag of democracy and independence that we Indians proudly carry along with us.
I would speak against the things which are wrong neglecting the fact that I may face problems further, but that action of mine will encourage many others who are still quietly facing the problems. And even if I am sent behind bars, my voice will become a lead for the people through the media and many people will be there to support me and fight against the wrong policies after getting inspired from my article. Even Gandhiji was sent behind bars for several times while fighting against the British policies but that made his voice even stronger and helped our nation to get independent.
When I talk about our society and the rape victims, the thing that makes me feel ashamed is that the victim is treated as the criminal after she is being raped. Instead of the society coming together to help her, they criticize the victim and consider her as someone who has lost all her respect in the society only because she was raped by some inhuman. That is the only reason which stops the victims to complaint and take action against the criminal and on the other hand it encourages more criminals to play with some innocent’s life. I feel that instead of lighting candles if we go and hold the victim’s hand and support her, that will give her a new hope in her life and she will be encouraged to forget the past and start again from a new point.
Restricting someone from sharing their opinion, it should not be encouraged at all. Bloggers are entitled to say what they feel.Not only they have freedom of speech, every Indian citizen has it.If what a particular blogger wrote is a hate speech against government or any other political parties, think of a person who uses harsh words against another person they dislike or disapprove of, will they be punished severely for their petty crime?No, not that i know.People will remember for a week or a month, then they will forget about it.Punishing a blogger is like, letting the whole world know the views of the blogger.Prosecuting
Well coming directly to the point whether we should be afraid or not about relaying our opinions, I’d like to submit that I for one, am a bit apprehensive about my freedom of speech given to me by the constitution of my country. With the governments “misusing” their powers, no one is safe. And that is applicable to everyone. When the governments can stay mum on killings of people in communal violence, be bothered about the release of a documentary which is banned citing the reason that it insults the victim. The government is sensible enough not to insult a dead victim of a crime, but is not doing anything enough to save the ones who are alive, and can become victims any moment. What can you expect from such a government. And then, there are ideological supporters of government that can do anything and the government turns a blind eye on them. What’s the guarantee that if you write something against the govt or its functionaries, these ideological supporters won’t kill you, while the government stays unaware of the situation. So, whether you have got afraid or is a matter that you should forget pondering over, and just go the way you want. I started doing that with my new blog, with a couple of open letters, quite lengthy ones to a couple of politicians.
But in my opinion, just don’t expect the govt. and the law to protect you. And don’t ever expect things to go right if, you, like everyone else stays mum about it.
I do feel that I may face some danger for the stuff I’m writing.My views and opinions show the bad side of the people in politics.I will continue to speak the truth and for justice even though I may face bad consequences for my good work.
I just wrote a Blog-post in Gujarati for my Sunday column (URL : http://blognezarookhethee.blogspot.in/2015/03/blog-post_21.html) that is going to be published today where I have written against recent Bans (Nirbhaya Documentary, Beef, Cinema cuss words, CabApp, Foreign funding of NGOs etc. etc.) by Govt.and was thinking if I have not taken a wrong step and I came across this week’s Indilogger Digest with the same question!India being a democratic country one should be allowed to speak his mind freely but that does not happen.Remember girls being on the verge of getting arrested for putting a post against a political party of Maharashtra?In fact after that controversial case I read few other such cases as well where certain action had been taken against people who spoke their mind freely.So even though I have written myself a blogpost of such nature I feel, Yes, one could be prosecuted for airing his/her views on a public forum like Blog if he/she wrote against certain policies related to Government.Well he/she should not be, par ye India hai …yaha kuchh bhi ho sakta hai!
People don’t want to get hurt neither they have the courage to atleast analyse what has been spoken. In the process they are ready to protect their superficial ego at any length. So, yes atleast in India if you are whistle blower people will find ways to suppress you. And if you persist they might even assassinate you (unofficially!).
If I write against their policies, they will prosecute a blogger like me. Because, where government bans anything that is offensive (they find truth offensive) bloggers be ready to wear a stripped black and white shirt.
It is alright to voice your opinion on issues, which need to be highlighted so that there may be changes in them. After all it’s the people who make the government. They have a right to speak up when and where it is required.
The nation stands strong
Only if citizens, show that they belong
Using their rights to do away with the wrong
Securing their happiness life long
I think all of us have a fair opportunity to put our thoughts that we do feel about the country, society and the people. If there happens to be a situation where I get a chance to speak against the wrong, I will surely do it no matter if that require me to criticize some government policies. And regarding the prosecution I feel blogging is a kind of media and we should be the torch bearers for the people who have been troubled by such policies and should not consider threats like prosecution to stop us from doing something which is right for us and the society.
First of all I hope to win this time. Grin.
Now coming to the question which is if you could be prosecuted for airing your views on your blog, my answer to which is “yes”. Considering what all strange and irrational things have been happening lately being prosecuted for a blog spot would not surprise me. People are summoned for questioning their Facebook status, blogging is still a way more powerful tool which has profound impact.
Blogging is gaining more and more popularity everyday. It is approachable and easily accessible which is the reason why one blatant and striking post on any current issue will backfire on you and can blow you off.
I would responsibly write about a topic and express my views on it. There is a huge possibility that you would not like my takes on many of the things. You will have to make peace with it and live with the fact that there can be another outlook towards the same thing. It is my space to write my heart out and I never forced you to read it. If you don’t like what you read then just stop right there but that wouldn’t affect its existence. Like there is pornography on internet , you know it is there but nobody forces you to watch it. It might be a lame comparison but it expresses exactly what I feel about this issue.
As per today’s headlines – SC quashes Section 66A of IT Act. Do I need say more?
I think that prosecution should be done only if some blogger has aired something which is wrong and does not relates with the topic. I understand that bloggers are a part of media and they too have equal rights of speaking their minds, but the views of the blogger should not over criticize the government and the words or sentences used for expressing the views should not make the issue to result into violence.
I feel that we bloggers have been given some rights and being educated people we should use those rights for the betterment of the society.
Holla! Don’t you remember how 2 girls were arrested over questioning of Mumbai shutdown at Late Bal Thakrey’s funeral? Haven’t you seen “Kill the messenger” or “The insider” where the protagonists are threatened for whistle blowing? (By the way, they were based on true stories) So much around the globe, that now I feel scared to write such posts. I don’t want to get arrested! I may write a post based on my opinion or true facts, it would bring the political parties or Govt entities in bad light anyway. Nobody want themselves to be defamed, yeah? Unless I am a writer like Nasrin or Rusdie, who may stir controversy at the drop of a hat, writing on such topic may not prove to be that fatal too :p Remember, freedom of expression leaves us with cuss words and nobody is prosecuted. Atleast our censor boards thinks so. 😉
For every action there is an equal and opposite reaction. Bloggers still write the way they want without any fear, but on the contrary they are being watched and noticed.Soon after the question was asked, recently the supreme court stroked down Section 66A. The internet is a source of information and resources. One cannot reject it abruptly. The social media is being watched seriously and whenever there is an anti post , an action is taken against the person who writes it. There is no security for the wroters and the best example is the Bangladesh , where a blogger is murdered. Also the internet valued everything of what others said and the value of that post increase when it is personal.
Take the example of the most recent TED Talk by Monica Lewinsky titled , The Prince of Shame , she still regret for the act of the internet world which made her to be away from the world for these many years. The internet world has the rights to speak on everyone and in the contrary if the person in the post belongs to a high powered post , then the person who posted it will be arrested.
Still people believe that 66 A act is unconstitutional and celebrate it. As i told , for reaction it has a opposite reaction. Why should they book u in a 66 A case , are there no other means to trap you in a different one.
Blogging is my desire and i write out what I think and I don’t stress others to read it. So I think the scenarios and acts can change but the reactions from those people who hate it will be the same if they haven’t changed.
Wow, Interesting.. Looks like i am logging after eons :p..
I won…………..I won……………I WON!!!!!!
Ok, back to cheering for the Men in blue now……god knows they need every bit of luck now………
Loved this edition of Indiblogger Weekly diary, especially the question at the end of post and those super cool memes. Even I posted a few on Twitter.. yay yay yay… Singapore takeaway !!!!
What’s great about a meme is that you get to speak the truth about society using anecdotes. They convey the messages otherwise hard to communicate via written media. This troll culture crept its way up from Facebook and spread to all variants of creative social media – WhatsApp, twitter and now blogs. It is simple, convenient and witty. For a guy who spends half his non-working hours on FB browsing through trolls, making one was definitely a unique experience.
What I liked the most about this edition of Indi-Diary was the compilation of reading material (links) enough for a whole week. There is nothing better than a blog post with well drafted facts intermingled with personal opinions (special mention to Monsoon Breeze and Desh Kapoor) in such an authentic way that it affects your perspective even before you are half way through them.
Freedom of speech is probably the most important freedom for a blogger. Bans are on one hand an important instrument to contain aggression from the mob at certain times, could also act a serious impediment to societal growth, if not properly taken care of. After all, it is the revolutionary ideas of people only that provide progress its correct course.
Coming to the question of the week, Prosecution for freedom of speech is unjust from my perspective, this freedom was there since beginning of times, and now charging people under criminal offense for simply speaking up their mind is simply unfair. Personally, I never write on political issues that draw unwanted attention. So the fear of being prosecuted is definitely not going to be a concern on my plate anytime soon. But it should also not be a concern to anyone who chooses to publically air his/her opinion on controversial issues. Especially after watching PK, I don’t buy any opinion which is sold with fear as its catalyst. That’s probably my most recent takeaway from Indian Cinema.
Loved the Indiforum section of the diary. Those stats truely show what all a progressive community can achieve. Three cheers to Indi !!!!
Thanks Anoop for another thoughtful IndiBlogger Weekly Diary though I doubt if it’s weekly 😛
//our text books were wrong to tell us that “India is a democratic and secular country”//
Not just wrong, but a crime! There’s a Bandh today in Tamilnadu against the Mekadatu reservoir issue. And guess what? Our cable operators here in Bangalore have blocked all the Tamil television channels. What the Heck?! Indirectly, are they trying to punish all the Tamil residents in Karnataka by curbing their weekend entertainment rights? Democracy is evolving to a new definition: ‘A rule by CRAzy DEMOns!
Here are two memes I’ve created my heart out:
http://i.imgur.com/hg4PKXU.jpg
http://i.imgur.com/2N0J08r.jpg
Thanks to the ‘Takeaway’ contest. I’ve got a new tool for my blogposts 🙂
Even if I had nothing to do with these two states, I wouldn’t support the building of this reservoir, at least at this point in history.
But I will have to think a hundred times before I can wrap a post on this issue. I am confident that such a post from my blog wouldn’t reach many, for me to worry about being prosecuted. But I cannot deny the fear of prosecution. I can talk blah blah about freedom of writing only until I begin to think about the consequence and the courage to face it. I may sound a coward, but living in a nation where Dharma is a sake-fake, I truly don’t feel safe. I say so because a post I wrote on the #ShameonTimesNow issue has received 1.5k views in a day, appearing on the first page in Google results. And instead of elation, only fear has gripped me in. What if somebody somewhere hit back at me? What’s the point in standing for my opinions when I am certain that I cannot survive the politics behind controversies.
I think as bloggers, we need to be more sensitive to everything that’s ugly in this country than our personal freedom.
Thanks for making us happy all the time with your postings, simply adore all of it
Well, coming directly to the question of the week: Recent incidents where bloggers had to face lashing ( Raif Badawi) or fatal consequence for expressing independent views. Avijit Roy and Washikur Babu, both were hacked to death in Bangladesh. Washiky actually was stood in solidarity with Avijit Roy and made #IamAvijit his cover page on Facebook. Both of them used to write against fanaticism and communal policies of different political parties of Bangladesh. I was a regular reader of Avijit Roys’s blog Muktomona (meaning The Open Mind) and, I was almost on the verge of crying hearing about the fatal attack!
India is not lagging behind. If not for blogging, there are cases where people have been arrested for raising question on social media(In Mumbai after Balasaheb Thackeray’s death)or drawing cartoons (in Kolkata a prof. of Jadavpur University was arrested for posting a cartoon of Mamata Banerjee). But, the gleam of hope lies in the fact, that, in both the cases, there was an overwhelming protest from common people.
Speaking our minds out is one of our fundamental rights and no one can stop me from doing that. We bloggers should have the chutzpah to call a spade a spade. I think still the situation is not that worse that a blogger could have been prosecuted for posting independent views on her blog, but, the horizon looks somewhat grim.
It’s time to stand in solidarity with all those tragic incidents happened to bloggers worldwide so that the political parties and the Government get a message.
Oops, ‘actually stood’…typo 🙁
Daring have no word like “fear” in their dictionary. A man hit on the road by a running vehicle – not all stop to see what happened – and hardly two percent of those who stopped dare to take a quick action in taking the ailing body to nearest hospital for immediate treatment.
So is the case in blogging – those who dare – don’t stop – and moreover when you are writing from your heart using brain as a secondary intelligent device – there are hundred percent chances that whatsoever and howsoever absurd you are writing has a deep meaning behind it. Challenging such stuff will be a foolish call – even if the challenging machinery is quite powerful. There is still a law of universe existing om this earth. :=)
~Pebble
Wonder why my comment was not approved. Did it violate any of IB’ regulations?
All hail your Lord and Saviour!!! The Sorcerer shall slay the Inditroll long before Renie can complete pronouncing the longest word one can find in cantonese!
Wow! That is a huge post, and will take me ages to go through. And I will, for this is what I have missed for so long. Becoming a Dad has change a lot of me, but I am to be blamed. The ‘new found’ windows phone craze that I have got into has take my time away from IB and my visits are rare.
Hope this changes things, especially the stats!! 😀 lol
Bans are “in” this season. Everyone is talking about Indirank, Alexa numbers and MOZ-whatever-the-hell-that-is numbers. Every third tech website is telling you to ‘blog about controversial topics’ to increase your blog’s worth. And bloggers in Bangladesh are being made to pay for free speech. But I still think that blogging & raising my voice about something that I feel strongly about – controversy or not – is still the biggest high. Is it not? SO here’s to blogging, without any fears. (I also hope India stays safe for everyone and for the right to free-speech!)
Happy 10th edition IB. Well done Anoop!
Blogging has never been so much fun with Indiblogger introducing so many new contests and of course the incredible HH that keep coming!
With all the strange things happening to bloggers who speak their mind across the world, the danger is lingering around all of us who love to invest in the power of expression. I don’t think this can stop us from speaking our minds because that’s what we are born to do. Every big and small thing alike is getting banned these days. In the midst of this, crumpling the voice of bloggers from all across the world is just too alarming… It’s like chopping off the wings of a bird and then telling it to fly away. Or worse still, sucking out the oxygen from the air and then asking them to keep breathing! We at Indiblogger are Indians by Birth, and Bloggers by passion. If we let go that passion and just write under certain guidelines, that would be stupid. Indiblogger will no longer be the same if that passion disappears, we won’t let that happen, will we?