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My book tells everything that the blog didn’t: Fake IPL Player

Debashish — Fri, 15 Jan 2010 02:30:01 +0000

Click here for a Hindi version of this interview

The Fake IPL Player (henceforth to be known as FIP) needs no introduction. Last year during the Indian Premier League, a blog suddenly appeared that was purportedly written by a fringe ‘anonymous’ player of one of the IPL’s most popular franchises. Giving a warts-and-all brutally irreverent fly’s eyes view of the inner workings of a doomed team and liberally peppered with salacious accounts of off-field superstars (whose actual identities were hidden behind easily-guessable monikers –a few of which like Kaan Molu and Appam Chutiya have since become part of our vocabulary) the FIP became a viral Internet phenomenon.

Who was FIP? Was he actually a player? Was it a publicity gimmick? More importantly, was this the truth? Or like everything else we are told, the ardha-satya?

The FIP became water-cooler talk in every office where cricket is discussed as people poured over screens dissecting the allusions to real players in posts. Certain players were suspected, a newspaper even broke the so-called identity of FIP and then retracted, the said franchise came up with an official statement on their blog, and as the FIP’s posts sounded realistically accurate, confusion became more confounded. The world waited eagerly till the end of the tournament, not just because it was overtly long but because FIP promised to reveal his identity only then.

He did. Well not really. In a video which showed his shadow, the FIP confessed to not being a player. Then who was he? Just a Indian cricket fan, but not an ordinary one. One who during “the faceless journey of life”, happened “to get intimately exposed to cricket. From the Kings of Bollywood to the pimps of cricket and vice-versa”, an experience that converted him into “an insider, the the fly on the wall, the ghost in the darkness.”

He left with a promise.

Well the FIP is back to make history. With his book ‘Gamechangers’ being brought out by Harper Collins. And to tell you more is the man himself in his first ever interview. In conversation with the winner of the “Indiblog of the Year” award winner Arnab Ray.

In case you are wondering, this interview is not due to the fact that both FIP & Arnab share the publisher (Arnab’s book ‘May I Hebb Your Attention Pliss‘, published by Harper Collins would be out in March 2010). It is normally the tradition that the winner of the top laurels, “Indiblog of the Year” award, is interviewed at Indibloggies. However we felt that since he had been interviewed after winning the same award before it would be better that we did an interview of someone else. And FIP, the winner for 2008 Indibloggies Sports Blog of the Year, was the obvious choice.

Enough talk. Silence. Here he is. The Fake IPL Player. For the first time since he stopped blogging.

Arnab: What led you to start the FIP blog? Was it something that you had wanted to do for long or was it something you thought of one fine day on an impulse?
FIP: The blog itself was a spur of the moment thing. What happened was, over the years, I had collected a bagful of juicy stories which I sometimes shared with my close friends. For obvious reasons, they loved them. One evening, a few days before I left for South Africa, we were sitting around, drinking beer, me and three other friends, when one of them suggested that I put the stuff out on a blog so they can enjoy the stories in real time. I said cool. It was supposed to be a dirty little black book between just the four of us. I never thought of making it ‘Private’ probably because I never expected anybody to find out about it.

But, I do remember thinking about how to make it more interesting than just a discussion board. I thought about Fake Steve Jobs and ‘War for news’. And, coincidentally, I watched the movie ‘Wag the dog’ on the flight to Jo’burg. The Fake IPL Player persona was, in some ways, influenced by all three.

Arnab: People start blogs and struggle to get noticed. How did you manage to create a readership so quick? More specifically, how did an initial set of people even come to know that there was this delightfully “evil” blog called the FIP?

FIP: To be honest, I have no frickin’ clue how it got out. For the first few days, it was just the four of us having fun on the blog. Then, one fine day I woke up to see 5 or 6 guys not known to me who had signed up as followers. And several others who had started commenting on the blog. I asked my friends if they had talked about it to anyone and they all said ‘No’. I have a feeling though that at least one of them would have told somebody. [At the time I felt differently about it, but now I am not complaining ]

By the end of the day, the Follower count had reached double figures. I was a bit worried then. I texted the most sensible guy in our group and asked him if I should continue. His response was ‘Lage Raho Munnabhai’. So I continued. A couple of days later, Cricinfo put it on their home page. I remember I was on my way to Kingsmead for the KKR Vs King’s XI game when my friend messaged me saying that the blog was on Cricinfo home page. By the time I returned to my hotel, the Follower count was 150. Eventually, it reached almost 9000. I can’t stop laughing every time I remember how scared I was when it had reached 15.

Cricinfo got to know about it very early. My guess is that either they chanced upon it accidentally or one of the earliest finders may have posted it on their Facebook wall or something. I don’t know. But, I think they were amongst the first to know. They may have monitored it for a couple of days to confirm whether the stuff being written was true or not. Once they were satisfied, they probably put it up. After that, it just took off.

Arnab: Was it all a work of fiction or was it what film-makers call “based on facts”? If it was, did you have a source inside the team or inside the press corps?

FIP: I stand by the disclaimer on the blog, “All characters in the blog are fictitious. Any resemblance to any person, living or dead, is purely coincidental and unintentional.”

Arnab: Were you ever bothered about the ethics behind maintaining the ruse of being an actual IPL player (I am going by the video you put up where you talked about merely being an avid cricket lover), which if taken seriously might lead to witch-hunts inside the team and ultimately to innocent players being put under a cloud? Or did you consider the use of the word “Fake” in “Fake IPL Player” enough of a disclaimer, even though the principal appeal of the blog did come from people perceiving it to be real?

FIP:

I always ensured that I gave enough clues that would tell the management who I could or could not be.

I always ensured that I gave enough clues that would tell the management who I could or could not be. I must confess that during the initial days, when the blog was still private, I was a bit careless on that front. But once it got popular and I decided to continue it, I edited out some of the earlier indiscretions and made sure I wrote stuff that wouldn’t put any particular player under the scanner. There certainly was a witch-hunt on and I followed it closely, but I was sure that no innocent player would pay a price for the blog. I trusted the team management with at least a quarter of a brain not to do something that stupid.

I was concerned when Aakash and Bangar were sent back. I stopped blogging for a couple of days until I got a confirmation from none other than Aakash himself that it wasn’t because of the blog.

To correct your question just a wee bit, while I have always been an avid cricket follower, over the last ten years or so I have had opportunities to be a little more than ‘merely an avid cricket follower’ and I think something to that effect was mentioned in the video post as well. But, you are right, I did think that the word ‘Fake’ in the name absolved me a bit.

Arnab: Will you ever reveal your identity? If not, why?

FIP: I don’t know about ‘ever’, but at the moment I am quite happy in anonymity.

A couple of years ago, I met this fascinating man in Paris. He was extremely well read and knowledgeable, but other than that he seemed like a regular, middle aged guy with a regular job at a French Football Club. Nothing out of the ordinary. He invited me to spend a weekend at his upcountry home with his wife and three kids. When I went there I realised that his upcountry home was actually a chateaux, he was a billionaire and part-owner of the club. I asked him how and why he keeps such a low profile. His response was ‘vivre cache pour vivre heureux’, which means ‘to lead a hidden life is to lead a happy life’.

Arnab: What led you to suddenly backtrack from revealing your identity?

FIP: There was a chance that my identity would put some players I know well in a bit of a pickle. When I thought of it I didn’t feel right about putting them in an awkward situation for no fault of theirs.

Arnab: Do you read other blogs? If you do, which ones?

FIP: My favourite blog is thevigilidiot.com This guy is just hilarious. I actually watched Kurbaan after reading his review to see how mind-numbingly inane it could possibly be.

The other blog I love is the Inclusive Planet blog. Inclusive Planet is an organisation that provides services to the disabled sector and on their blog people with physical disabilities from all over the world share their experiences. The best part about it is that you hardly ever find any sympathy-seeking sob stories there. They are intelligent, evocative, well-written and inspiring stories. Personally, through this blog I have learnt a lot about a community that I understood very little about earlier. On the blog, read jbarath’s and Gidi Ahronovich’s posts.

I enjoy a couple of travel blogs. Janchipchase.com is the blog of the Nokia head of design. He captures the world with pictures and his acute ethnographic observations which others would normally miss. Then, there’s this interesting little blog of this IT sales guy from the land of Appam Chutiya who lives in Europe and blogs about his
experiences.

I like Cricinfo’s Page 2. They have some funny writers on their panel. Jamie Alter, Anand Ramachandran, Andrew Hughes, Nishi Narain, George Benoy they’re all quite good. Prem Panicker’s twitter feed is another favourite and occasionally I visit ‘Cricket with Balls’.

Arnab: Who has been your favorite Knight Rider player? Who do you think shouldn’t have been in the team?

FIP: My favourite Knight Rider? Well, there are so many. I think Ishant would be right up there because, during Season 2, he embodied the term ‘Knight Rider’ in ways that it wasn’t even supposed to be interpreted. He was the true ‘Knight Rider’. With him, it didn’t end with korbo-lorbo-jeetbo.

Chris Gayle is great company. In fact, I think, Gayle and Gibbs are the funniest cricketers in the world. Although, the funniest guy one can ever spend an evening with is David Lloyd. He should have been coach of KKR, to be honest. They would have still lost all their games, but at least they would have laughed their way to the bottom of the table.

For the whole month John Buchanan’s laptop kept him hypnotised like a nubile nymphet doing a strip tease.

Another favourite Knight Rider would be John Buchanan’s laptop. For the whole month it kept him hypnotised like a nubile nymphet doing a strip tease. Since he was mostly distracted by the raging sexual energy of his laptop, players could afford to breathe.

Who, I think, shouldn’t have been in the team? Well, don’t we all know that the fish starts stinking from its head?

Arnab: Where does FIP go from here? Will he come back this IPL season? Tell us about the book.

FIP: My book ‘The Gamechangers’, which I have been writing for the last six months, is due for release in February 2010. It tells everything that the blog didn’t or couldn’t. I am very excited about it. About the blog, well, I still don’t know how close I will be to the action in Season 3. So, it’s a little hazy on that front.

Arnab: Do you think your book will sell more due to the buzz/controversy created by the blog? Also do you anticipate any legal actions (defamation etc) being taken against you by BCCI when you reveal yourself at the launch of the book?

FIP: I don’t know about whether the book will sell more due to the blog or not, but I know for a fact that the book would never have happened if it weren’t for the blog. If it wasn’t for the blog, the folks at Harper Collins wouldn’t have thought of me as anything more than a horse’s ass.

Arnab: Any words for your fans?

FIP: To those who followed my blog and commented on it, a big Thank you. You really kept me on my toes.

During the blogging experience, I realised how harmful public adulation can be to one’s character. Words like ‘You Rock’, ‘Genius’, ‘Dude’ can make you bloat up with pride and ego. The result is almost always a crappy post that would get the same guys to prick the balloon with a pin and cut you down to size. I think the followers of the blog balanced the bouquets and brickbats very well and my sincere thanks for the same. I hope they will support my book too.

Also, 50% of the blog’s success was due to the comments. There were many people who’d come to the blog to read the comments. Some of them were very funny.

Arnab: Thank you for your time. Here is wishing you a whole DLF maximums of Citi moments of success for Gamechangers.

Click here for a Hindi version of this interview

Mutter with Megha: In conversation with Greatbong

Debashish — Fri, 30 Mar 2007 03:12:57 +0000

In light of the Greatbong‘s unprecedented landslide victory in the Indibloggies, the powers that be felt that winning an award (well actually, two) wasn’t enough of an ego trip. So they decided that one should do an interview with him as well. Perhaps a more serious, ‘getting to know the man behind the blog, his passions, his drive’ type routine. Of course, if seriousness is what one wants, one shouldn’t ask the resident flake of the blogosphere to do the interview. But now the deed has been done, and it’s time for the public to pay the heavy price for it. So here you are. Styled after her idol K-Jo and his koffee, and channeling the I-will-get-husky-voiced-for-no-reason-at-all Simi aunty, here’s Mutter with Megha. In conversation with Greatbong.

Caricature by Vikram Nandwani.

[A spotless white set. Megha in spotless white, sitting on a spotless white couch, holding a spotless white coffee cup filled with split-pea-soup, just one spotless white towel short of becoming Miss Chamko. (This part of the program sponsored by Surf.)]

M: Good evening! It is lovely to be back. Though the show has a new look (it is finally visible) the flavor of ‘Mutter with Megha’, much like this soup, remains unchanged — monochromatic, bland and with the inevitable queasiness of eating too much plant-protein.

So let me introduce our guest for today — his intellectual humor and ability to quote Neruda has the ladies swooning, but this legend of the industry is a dedicated father and especially loves to take his kids on long trans-Atlantic plane journeys. Belying his macho image, he is gentle and romantic. Oops, sorry. Wrong script. Um, say hello to .. [looks down at paper] .. Greatbong.

[Greatbong comes in through the spotless white wicker door and sits down as graciously as his suit will allow, while trying to appear all cool and award-winner-like. The spotless white couch behind him glows in the spotlight. (This part of the program sponsored by Rin.)]

M: [with a gentle toss of her flowing hair and glowing dupatta, careful not to turn her split-pea-soup into spilt-pea-soup] How does it feel like to be the Indiblogger of the year?

GB: [looking away SRK style at the ceiling and back at the camera with a shy smile] It feels good, Megha. After all at the end of the day it’s the opinion of the public that matters.

M: [with a completely straight face] Dealing with any performance anxiety, are we?

GB: [SRK-style aaahhh] Maybe you should ask my wife! [smirk at the joke made and looking into the camera self-assuredly] (This part of the program sponsored by 30 Plus.)

M: [sighs sadly at the mess on the spotless white couch, where a joke just died] So, tell us. Is there pressure to write better?

GB: Yes definitely. You now have something to live up to. You are no longer the underdog. Not everyone is rooting for you any longer. Yes, [pauses for effect] I would be not entirely truthful if I said that there is no pressure. But as Sreesanth said, pressure and pain are my best friends. Especially after I have had a can of …err mutter.

M: [sigh] Okay, time for a serious question ..

GB: Yess… you know me Megha… apun life ko zara light leta hai… [looks to side]

M: Stephen King advises writers to write to, or for, one person. Do you? And if so, who?

GB: Oh very simple. I write for myself. I write stuff which I would laugh at if someone else had written it. When I write serious stuff, I write stuff I would like to read but find no one has written it yet.

M: So, do your readers ever determine what you write? Do their likes, dislikes and expectations ever influence what gets written in your posts?

Sometimes when I look at my old posts I go — eeeks I said that!

GB: [SRK-ian glance at the camera] If you mean do readers influence the topics on which I post, then no — I write exactly what I feel I have to express. If I have nothing to say, I stay quiet. However if you mean whether readers have influenced the way I structure my arguments, then yes. Without being intellectually dishonest, I give a little more thought before writing something than I would have done maybe 2 years ago. That inherently is not a bad thing though. Sometimes when I look at my old posts I go — eeeks I said that!

M: That almost sounds like the GreatBong is trying to be more politically correct of late. But we all know better than to believe that?

GB: [brows knitted] No not politically correct. Absolutely not. That is one thing I will never be. In fact ever since I started writing this blog I took a decision that I will say exactly what I want (an opportunity you rarely get in the real world of mice and men) — even if it is not often the most fashionable stance to take. But yes, the ceaseless process of feedback and debate has influenced the way I structure my points.

M: But does this process of debate and feedback ever change your stand on an issue? I guess I’m asking — does it only make you a better debater, or more amenable to seeing another point of view, as well?

GB: [calm unemotional voice] Yes it has made me more open to opposing views and I believe that as a person I have become much more tolerant and patient than I was two years ago. I remember the first time on a Ganguly post, someone called me a moron I felt really hurt. Yes I was that immature. Now I can smile it off and even say, ‘Yes that guy really has a point!’ Not that I still do not lose my temper but I am working on it. [mutters inaudibly]

M: [glad that he is taking the name of the show very seriously] Would you describe yourself as a person who doesn’t back down from an argument?

GB: A year ago, I would have said “yes” with a thundering boom. I will still say ‘yes’ but I have also learnt to recognize some arguments that have no resolution… Which does not mean I will not debate but I also know when it is fruitless dragging it on. More importantly I have learnt to understand that staying silent after some time in a debate is not a sign of defeat. I had a bit of a problem accepting that before!

I believe that as a person I have become much more tolerant and patient than I was two years ago.

M: A more balanced, less-feisty GreatBong. Your fans will not like that, for sure?

GB: [pouting] Well we will just let my readers decide about my feisty-ness.

M: Absolutely. At the end of the day, it is the opinion of the public that matters, as someone said a little while ago.

GB: Sahee… John janata janardhan.

M: Tararam pam pam pam pam, indeed. Speaking of the public that mutters, um, I mean matters, your comments section has seen several ugly wars. Yet you keep it open and unmoderated. Why?

GB: Simple, Megha-ji. Without comments, RTDM becomes like first-day first-show of Mr Prime Minister. My comments and readers add a lot of value to the content here, like doing karva-chauth while doing group dance enhances quality of pati-dev’s life.. [looks to the side]

M: [looks to the side wondering just what is so fascinating there] On a lighter note, lets talk about something you are famous for. Not that precious Indibloggies trophy you are holding and not your animal magnetism either. But humor. Do you think humor gets its due in the Indian blogosphere?

GB: I would think so. Otherwise where would yours truly be!

M: So Paresh Rawal can hope to win the Best Actor award one day?

GB: Who cares about winning Best Actor, ma’am, when you go home to Swaroop Sampat? Winning, like many other things, depends on your POV.

M: One hopes, for your sake, that Mrs Bong likes being compared to Ms Sampat.

GB: I hope, for my sake, she likes the fact that I want to go home to Ms Sampat.

M: Speaking of Mrs Bong and Ms Sampat — with your frequency of writing, and the number of comments you get, where do you find the time for a life outside the blog?

GB: Simple. I do not have a life. Of course Mrs. Bong is not pleased with that state of affairs but I deal with her like I deal with anonymous commenters: I pretend not to hear. Incidentally I always, before publishing, read out the post to her and religiously listen to her feedback.

M: Okie. Now for the real stuff. An interview with the Greatbong and no Mithun questions? People must be wondering what the hell I’m smoking.

GB: Yes we all wondered what those clouds in your blog are for… now we know.

M: [tells herself that he is supposed to be a funny blogger, put humor on the Indian blogging map and what not. Realizes that it is best to pretend to laugh at the funnies he attempts, and produces customary chuckle] So onto Mithun. What’s the worst Mithun movie of all time? And why, of course.

The worst Mithun movie of all time is Citizen Kane because it did not have Mithun in it.

GB: The worst Mithun movie of all time is Citizen Kane because it did not have Mithun in it.

M: Now that you are a fancypants-bigshot-blogger, is there going to be an official animal for this blog?

GB: No thank you ma’am… the only kind of animals that are kosher at RTDM are already “cut” and in “a meat” form.

M: Heh heh. Now that sounds much more like a Greatbong sound-byte. It is unfortunate that it also marks the end of our interview. It was a pleasure having you on the show, Greatbong! May your blog doodho nahaao pooto phalo. (Translated: Take bath in milk and produce many fruity baby-blogs.)

GB: Thank you, Megha. It was fun to be here!

M: And now, before we bid adieu, the customary gift hamper — Grandma’s not-so-secret recipe for split-pea-soup, a packet of Surf, and a photo of the fascinating spotless white wall on the side.

Allright, that’s all for now folks! Be good and give peas a chance!

Blogs cannot change India: Atanu Dey

Debashish — Sun, 06 Mar 2005 11:38:00 +0000

A Hindi version of this interview is also available at the World’s first Hindi blogzine, Atanu Dey, winner of the Best Indiblog at the Indibloggies 2004 and author of Deeshaa did his bachelors in mechanical engineering, then moved to computer science and received a master’s degree. Product marketing at HP in the Silicon Valley kept him occupied briefly for six years. He traveled in India, US, and Europe for five years before realizing that he knew nothing about economics. So he studied economics at the University of California at Berkeley and received his PhD for his thesis on the Indian telecommunications sector. In his spare time Atanu listens to classical music, practices Vipassana meditation, reads physics, gives lectures on Buddhism and maintains his blog. He is also a published poet.

Atanu was interviewed for Indibloggies by Nitin Pai and Debashish Chakrabarty.

How has been the experience winning the Best Indiblog award at the Indibloggies? Do award sites such as this do any good to the blogging world?
The experience has been very positive because the ideas that I explore on my blog got wider exposure because of the contest. This exposure was a secondary effect of the contest. For instance, Brad Delong, Professor of Economics at UC Berkeley noted the award on his blog and hundreds of additional visitors started coming to my blog. Tim Worstall and Om Malik were among those who also wrote about my blog on their blogs and increased my readership.

I do believe that such contests serve a function. They reduce information imperfections. That is, more people get to know about the good blogs and this raises the bar.

Why do you think blogging provides a good platform for what you say? Do you blog with a purpose?

Blogging is a great platform for an individual’s viewpoint to be made accessible to the world at large (or at least, the connected world.) Each of us has a unique take on the world, which may be of value to others who may be geographically remote but psychically close. A web log allows a kindred spirits elsewhere to connect.

I blog for the reasons above, of course. But more importantly, it forces me to write. To me, writing is a process of self-discovery. When I write, I make explicit to myself what I implicitly know but I may not be fully conscious of.

What is that one thing you think Deeshaa achieves?

Deeshaa achieves connections. There is a core aim to the blog: discovering through dialogue, experience, exploration, observation and introspection what India is and where it is going. Deeshaa connects my efforts with others who have a similar quest.

Which are your favourite blogs?

I am not one of those people who read scores of blogs. It takes me time to carefully consider what others have written. Therefore, my reading is fairly limited, although eclectic. Mostly I read blogs of those who I know, either directly or only on cyberspace.

Rajesh Jain’s Emergic is my favourite tech blog. For India’s rural news and viewpoint, I read Suhit Anantula’s World is Green. My group blog of choice is Wetware, which was started by Reuben Abraham. Veerchand Bothra’s Mobile Pundit is a great source for mobile related content. Brad DeLong is among my favorite professors and has an incredible economics and political blog. “It is all trivial and obvious except …” by Tim Worstall of the UK is another eclectic intelligent viewpoint that I find remarkable. Sonal Vaidya writes “A potpourri of thoughts” from New York, which is guaranteed to entertain, inform and make you wonder. Oh, I should not forget Stupid Evil Bastard. Should not be missed.

Do you use any tools like w.bloggar etc to blog? Which newsreader do you use?

I use Movable type for my blog. Don’t use any newsreader.

Do you actually have a life? How does life interfere with your blogging?

I should take the 5th on that question. Answering it may incriminate me. But seeing as I don’t give a damn on my blog, I may as well answer that question. OK, I admit that I no longer have a life. Before I came to Mumbai nearly a year and a half ago, I had a life.

Do you think Indian blogs can change anything anywhere, especially in India?

Blogs change India? Are you kidding! Nothing can change India, least of all a bunch of stupid blogs that are written by a bunch of people who need to get themselves a life and read by those who desperately need to get out more often.

Blogs can bring alternative viewpoints to the public discourse

Seriously though, blogs can bring alternative viewpoints to the public discourse. In fact, blogs bring the public into the public discourse. The mainstream media can be very insular and incestuous. Blogs inject much needed diversity of viewpoints.

What do you mean by an Indian blog?

Since distance does not have any meaning when it comes to cyberspace, Indian blog means a blog that has as its major focus matters concerning India, irrespective of who the person writing is.

Tell us something about yourself.

I am just an average guy living in this material world, trying to scratch out a living without stepping on too many toes, and wondering how it is all going to come out in the end. I am on my third profession. Trained as an engineer first but did not practice that trade. Then moved to computer science and left it because I find computers artificially dumb and find natural stupidity rather intriguing. So I got a PhD in economics because economics has something to say about why people behave as stupidly as they do. Now I am concerned with what can be done to counteract the natural stupidity of people. I am working on figuring out an educational system that will make people grow up smart instead of being as dumb as doorknobs.

How do you analyse the current economic scenario of India?

India is a huge complex economy. One can partition India in many different ways and even with a huge number of partitions; each partition can be large in absolute terms even though in relative terms they may be insignificant. Depending on which partition one focuses on, one will get a different story.

For instance, take IT enabled services such as BPO. A million Indians work in that segment and things can’t be better for them. Yet, they only represent 0.1% of India’s population. The IT-enabled segment is rapidly evolving and progressing. The whole urban sector is also gaining grounds rapidly. But that is only 20% or so of India. What about the 70% of India that is in rural India? Things are not so rosy over there. What are the urgent and important problems that face rural India and how can they be addressed is the question critical to India’s future.

Overall, I am cautiously hopeful about India’s future. My guarded optimism springs from the realization that bureaucracy and politics can snatch defeat from the jaws of victory very easily as they have demonstrated in the past.

A Hindi version of this interview is also available at the World’s first Hindi blogzine, Nirantar.

I like writing, I like arguing, I like taking stands!

Debashish — Wed, 24 Dec 2003 11:02:08 +0000

Jivha’s is perhaps the best known name in the Indian Blogosphere. There wouldn’t be many Indian Blogs that do not have him on their blogroll and there mustn’t be many either who never ever commented on his post or trackbacked him. Jivha emerged as the deserving “IndiBlog of the year 2003″ and we thought it was time we shed some light on the enshrouded but effervescent Indiblogger. And what could have been a better spectacle than Melodrama, who also sponsored the prize for the winner of this category along with Meena, asking the questions. Here we go:

M: Since when have you been blogging (for those who wouldn’t bother checking your archives)?
Jivha: February 2003. Started as jivha.blogspot.com and moved over to jivha.com in July 2003.

M: How did you hit upon the pseudonym ‘Jivha’ and how is it representative of your blog?
Jivha: Jivha, means ‘tongue’ in Pali (Buddhist).

When I was starting a blog back in February 2003, I wanted a name that would be Indian in origin, and would mean something relevant to me. A mythological story that I had read in my childhood came to mind. In the story the royal barber went by the name of ‘Jivha’ and was recruited by some opponents of the king to cut the king’s throat while shaving his beard the next day. The barber meekly agreed to do so.

The next day when the barber was sharpening his blade (‘ustara’) in preparation of the dire deed, the king starts humming a song which somewhat went “you move left, you move right, o jivha I know what’s on your mind!” Hearing this the barber falls at the king’s feet asking for forgiveness and blames his opponents for coercing him. Of course he never knew that the king was just referring to a ‘tongue’ in the song, and not to the barber!

And that is how the word ‘Jivha’ came to mind. I started my original blog at Blog*Spot. When I decided to move on to my own domain and Movable Type, I decided to use the same name. This time I reverse-justified the name ‘Jivha’ to something more than just a long-lost story.

The concept of the tongue fitted very well with the loose, off-the-cuff and direct commentaries that I’d been making on most of my posts. And that is why my blog became simply, ‘Jivha – the Tongue’.

M: What do you think of Indian blogs and do you think anything has changed since you started blogging?
Jivha: Although nowhere near the quality and range of US blogs, I think we’re more than making up for the lead that the US had in this regard. There are newer sites coming up which make compelling reads and the Indian blogosphere today is almost unrecognizable to it’s year-old past.

M: Do you think Indian blogs are representative of India or the average Indian?
Jivha: Um, no. In fact I wouldn’t even say that they’re representative of an urban average India too. They’re representative of probably 5% of the population of the top urban cities.

M: What do you think of any blogging awards, and could you please be honest?
Jivha: Frankly, not much. Because (a) I don’t understand what purpose they serve, and (b) I think it’s pretty darn easy to ‘rig’ an award…then where’s the point?

M: Is there a mission to your blogging and what motivates you to continue with it?
Jivha: I like writing, I like arguing, I like taking stands. My blog allows me to do all. Besides, in my own small way I try and influence atleast a few people about reality the way ‘I’ see it

M: Do you think your blog has affected anyone positively or negatively and do you think blogs influence, like TV or radio?
Jivha: Positively. My knowledge of world affairs has increased since I started blogging/reading other blogs.

M: Have you induced anyone to blog? Did your efforts bear any fruit and is the person still blogging?
Jivha: Um, yes. Atleast a couple of friends and even a couple of people I never knew earlier. Some are continuing, some aren’t. Not enough data to make a conclusion yet

M: Do you plan beforehand the topics you blog about? How do you handle criticism of your posts?
Jivha: Plan? Unless you call remembering what I read in the newspapers on the way to office as ‘planning’, then no. Google News, my daily newspapers and other blogs remain the 3 sources of posts for me.

How do I handle criticism? By arguing back if the criticism is valid/well structured, or by co-opting the criticism if it’s illogical and troll-ish (my byline is made up of ‘names’ people have called me in the Indian blogosphere).

M: We have noticed a distinct political tone to a lot of your posts, so, are you trying to be a political blogger?
Jivha: Two things, (i) I wouldn’t want to slot myself, (ii) you’re assuming I’m not one already

M: Do you think only a certain kind of individual blogs or have you noticed people with very different personalities blogging?
Jivha: I’ve noticed about as decent a range of personalities in bloggers as you would notice amongst colleagues at your workplace. That’s a fair sample, no?

M: We also noticed that you tried a bloggers meet sometime back. How did it go and what were your experiences meeting bloggers the first time? Would you organize such a meet again?
Jivha: Asli and Mahesh Shatanaram did land up. A couple of people weren’t well, some people misread the timings…overall I wasn’t disappointed as me and Asli did chill out over beer after the fiasco And yeah, you’re not catching me organizing anything again. A defunct book-reading club and blogger’s meet are ‘two’ much for me

M: What are you views on bloggers’ aligning themselves like ‘Indian blogring’, ‘blogging bitches’, ‘blogging for bush’ etc.?
Jivha: Not much. I don’t like slotting myself into pre-ordained categories. Plus webrings strike me as pretty dorky (don’t ask me why!).

M: How does one make one’s blog work-safe?
Jivha: Simple. Give your blog URL to your Mom, Dad, Sister, Brother amd Girlfriend. No one’ll have enough b***s to write anything even remotely un-work-safe after that!

M: Who would you dedicate this (best Indiblog) win to? (Wait let us all jam our ears and shut our eyes, we fear a jivhaesque outpouring.)
Jivha: Who else but myself?

M: Are you planning to donate the prize (Tantra tee shirt) or to enjoy the fruits of your success? If yes, who would you donate the shirt off your back to?
Jivha: No. I wanna show the tee-shirt(s) to my would-be-better-half as proof that blogs are not 100% pointless

M: Who is your favourite blogger? (If you say its me, I might even be induced to enhance the prize to say a autographed tantra tee. Teehee!)
Jivha: Calpundit

M: If we see Jivha on the streets how could we identify him?
Jivha: Considering that your tongue is on the street, I think it would be a fair assumption that so would be the rest of your face, and body. I think you should call an ambulance as most people who get run over on the street do tend to need one.

M: This is for all the lovely young ladies who have a secret crush on you and are waiting to stalk you, what exactly did you say your address was?
Jivha: Ahhh, be still my beating heart! Can you please ask those ‘lovely young ladies’ to mail me for further directions

M: And finally, do you have any message for new bloggers? Stop, we didn’t mean to unleash so much verbal diarrhea, stop! Stop! STOP! Yeahhhhhh…….
Jivha: Just two words – ‘post frequently’.