D.é.j.à. v.u

A gtalk conversation spilled on to if I am still curious on the hosannas and the gravitas of the Indian blogosphere?  The answer is no. I guess I have spent a good 12-14 months, trying to understand how our perceptions are moulded by our own values, which largely influence the way we relate to each other. I can say I dont need any further experiences, either passive or direct to make any changes in my view; well, I hope at least not for the moment. 

Firstly the positives - I am really amazed at the sheer number of people who write well in English on the Indian blogosphere. By writing, I mean writing as a skill - the ability to put across one’s thoughts as clearly as possible  - is really commendable. Be it a personal experience or an elaborate social commentary, there is a growing number of Indian bloggers who are refining their skills day by day about articulating their view into a presentation. I reckon this is one of the significant developments for India as a nation because it is a self feeding system which can only recruit and grow,  independent of other systems.

The other glaring feature is the unending passion in the Indian blogosphere. However idiotic or nonsensical it is, the energy is impossible to ignore. It would be wonderful and interesting to see if this is given more thought and turned into something more concerted , of representation and utility.

The negatives - are too many to be enlisted. I have often written about things here and there. But if I have to pick a couple: the most salient being the absolute lack of reason in any debate on Indian blogosphere. This is a negative of tremendous impact because, even if one is able to articulate oneself one has to be able to participate and learn from an exchange, without which all one is left with in the world is his own view. On the Indian blogosphere I often notice that both the parties come into a debate with a firm fixed unchallengeable idea and part of the idea is to convince the other of this very own idea. So the discourse often ends up being an exchange of unshared pre-perceived emotions rather than an exchange of dynamic thoughts, which could be challenged and changed. This, for whatever I know corrupts an exchange and rules out any growth. It’s a shame really that an Indian  blogger can articulate himself but not be able to interact meaningfully. So it ends up being a stalemate that is ruled by presupposed emotions. When this is not the case, I have noticed Indian bloggers ignoring each other for their alleged views, but this I think is an undercurrent of the Indian identity.

e.g. Remember Barkha Dutt telling her viewers to switch off / change channels if they dont happen like her or what she says ? Unbelievably, she is the host of one of the talk shows which discusses the problems of the nation every week!! Or that one trick pony Arundhati Roy trying to sell to the nation her delusion of justice or civil war?  In both the cases,  however much I may not like it, I would put my mortgage that the good old India would tread in between many such cracks and potholes inside her, slowly and cautiously; cracks and holes, where a confused writer and an arrogant television host have fallen.

The other thing that struck me on the Indian blogs was the absolute lack of understanding with respect to meanings of the words used or they use themselves. To a  certain extent, this is understandable  with English not being our first language but that said, again we cant ignore that we have a tendency to think more in terms of cliches and phrases than actual words. This is almost a leitmotif in Indian blogosphere. I noticed it  last year for the first time with this post , which later spawned this and this, and eventually prompted me to write almost an unpaid thesis here.  The basic misunderstanding was with the words - responsibility, blame, law et al.  Ended the year with another equally melodramatic one here - where the difference between the words - discrimination and alienation is denied simply as a part of system of overwhelming sympathy. Nothing against those bloggers, I have just taken the first and last interactions of my study year.

The problem with such whims of reading our own meaning into words, as evident from those exchanges, is  to not be able to hold a rational interaction when the meaning of our interpretation  is challenged. This is the reason why we dont have world class articles coming out from India. Forget articles, even movie-reviews that are original. The language which is often a mere tool to express the observation is mistaken  for the observation itself.  Though communicating a thought is important, it is by no means a substitute for thinking itself.