Selective Amnesia There was a point to this. But I forgot.

Bharteeya Blog Mela

Hear ye! Hear ye! This is the weekly exercise in vanity boosting and ego pumping, otherwise known as the Bharateeya Blog Mela.

I had loads of plans on how to do this particular version, especially after the smashing hit that Prasanjeet’s was.

But I feel it is only right for me to be a little subdued about it, in the wake of the serious issue gripping Indian blogosphere right now. Shanti, the mela chief, has been battling with a dirty rotten little creep who has the audacity to rip her post off and claim it as his own. The creepy piece of shit folks, ought to be hung, or atleast, made to realise the folly of his ways.

Oh alrighty then. To the mela.

(Aside: Yes. I did ask for lots of nominations, but I didn’t expect the deluge of comments that hit me once I disabled comment moderation – darn comment spammers)

Let’s begin the mela on a go(o)dly note. Pradeep, the number guy, looks for divine inspiration from the sky. And he gets it, in the form of a ray of the sun. He points out why atheists ought to burn in hell.

Speaking of god, can a King be far behind? JK, the resident historian of Indian Blogosphere points to an article that talks of the Chola empire (of which I am a fanatic) and their rather democratic system of governance.

Let’s see now. The God – Check. The King – Check. What’s next – ah yes – The fourth estate – the press. Kiran, the brooding dude, clearly hates the TOI kind of journalism. And he is not the one to mince words. In Misadventures of the fourth estate he writes about how the Tehelkas of this world are systematically destroyed by the government.

Too heavy a reading? Well then, why didn’t you say so. Gaurav Sabnis, on tour in Umrica, believes that India, especially Mumbai, has a lot to teach the infidels. In his rather funny way, he says why Indian beggars, though a lot less cool, are better than their American counterparts.

Speaking of the Land of the great Satan, Gopi, the american desi, shares his experience growing up bi-lingual in Madras, and how that’s pretty similar to the Black Vernacular english of the African-Americans. They have a term for that – they call the speech Ebonics. Yo!

As an erstwhile wannabe member of the famed cartel, you betcha I will have some posts that tend towards the libertarian and anarcho-capitalistic way of life.

And so, as a mela within the mela, are the following posts.

Jaapnam Singh can rant. Contrary to the title of this post he rants really well. Why, he asks, do immigrants expect the governments of their adopted country to go out of their way in helping them, and if they don’t, why do they rant about it on public forums.

Navin Harish has no issues with the government making helmets compulsory in Maharashtra. And he doesn’t mind paying a fine if caught violating. But, the question is, who does he fine when the government is caught not doing what they ought to do, by law? In this post, he wants the government to lay off the laws, or atleast, set a decent example by sticking to their end of the bargain.

I first read Sauvik Chakraverti in college. A professor gave me a copy of his “Free your mind” (after I discussed with him in length on why free markets are better) telling me, “This book might interest you. ” It did, and I have been hooked ever since. Which explains why I liked his post on the MMS scandal at AnarCapLib.

Atheism is almost a by product, it seems, of libertarianism. Especially when Brihaspati, the guru of the Devas, is an atheist himself. As pointed out by Nilu.

Open the windows, you say, and let this unbearable smell of the cartel out. Alright! Alright! Shall we also liven up the scene a bit? How about a little Bangra? Oh no! No! Rahul Bhatia doesn’t like Bangra, Hip Hop or others of the same ilk.

Vivek is so caught up by Kautilya’s Arthashastra that he nominated the entire blog for the mela. Being a long time reader of Arthashastra myself, I don’t see why not.

It’s time to call it a day. And how better, than with a good book to cozy up in bed with. As long as it isn’t a Robert Ludlum, says Bala in Dead Writers society. I agree, especially since I think Ludlum is one garrulous, completely boring a writer. Thankfully, his manuscripts ought to go the same place he did.

That’s the mela folks. Enjoy. DO read the posts mentioned here, cause these are words that are precious, and ought not be wasted. The next mela is on at The Examined Life.

Bye! Am headed out to Shanti’s place to watch the fireworks.

P.S. This mela is up, thanks to MadMan and his amazing computer skills. Painstakingly, and using a technique that I can’t begin to explain, he isolated the error that caused the mela to act all funny, and resolved it. In the process, re-established himself as the blog-osphere’s “Abath Bhandav”. All hail the MadMan.

Final Call

Folks – the last, absolutely final call for nominations for the Bharateeya Blog Mela. Send in your nominations by mail or as comments to this or the previous post, latest by 12:00 PM (that’s 12 in the afternoon), tomorrow.

The final listing of the nominated post will be put up later in the day, tomorrow.

Call for entries

Simple and straight! The Blog Mela is back on at Selective Amnesia. Nominate entries that are worth reading, and worth talking about. The final list of nominated entries will be put up on the 21st or the 22nd of January 2005. Enjoy.

Oh shit! I am supposed to put up rules. So here goes

• Posts by Indians, or about India. Please! This is supposed to be the Bharateeya Blog Mela!
  
• No personal posts, says The High Priestess. I don’t think so. Go on, and nominate personal posts. I set the rules on this blog (I think so)
  
• Since this is the weekly blog mela, please limit it to the posts between 14th of January to the 20th of January, both dates inclusive.
  
• Let’s be a little experimental shall we? Let’s nominate posts from blogs we haven’t heard or seen before yet! Let’s get some new people into this. Which means, the cartel stays away a bit.
  
• Finally, let’s have enough nomination. That ought to be the only rule. I am vain enough to think I am read by a lot of people. So all you people, nominate, and by the dozens.
  

Update: 18 Jan ‘05: Comment moderation, i.e. the Typekey thingy, has been removed to help you folks nominate. I shall leave comment moderation off till the 21st. Now that I have made it all easier for you to nominate, what are you waiting for?

You can also mail in your nominations to me at chandrachoodan@gmail.com with “Blog Mela” in the subject line.

VOTE

The Indibloggies are on, and the voting has begun. Go forth and cast your vote.