In which Chandrachoodan pulls the plug on Selective Amnesia
Non-regular readers, supporters of IIPM, horny twits searching for Silk Smitha, pervs looking for pictures of drunk women in hotel, you will have one less blog to search for. Thank you for making my life here interesting. Or not.
So, shoo! Off with you, and scat.
Have they gone? You sure? Check under the table? Really, really gone?
Good! You can’t be careful enough these days, damn passersby looking on like this is a damn freakshow, or even a nudist beach.
Have they really gone? Sure? Good. Now what was I talking about? Oh yeah! Chandrachoodan pulls the plug on Selective Amnesia.
The Selective Amnesia you and I know will die its deserved death.
2001, the year I first started out as a wet behind the ears copywriter, I put up a page on tripod with pieces of my writings, some essays that have won me prizes in school, hoping to impress Creative Directors enough to give me an internship. That obsession with tripod continued well into 2003, writing a new story every second day, with a little e-mail script for feedback from random strangers.
Little did I know in 2001 that the very thing was soon to be called Blogging and give me my first shot at celebrity hood. Stupid me. I should have left well alone.
2003, August 28. Selective Amnesia was born, after three months of commenting on various “mainstream” blogs. SelAm was an obsession. It still is. Unfortunately for me.
2004, June 7. I moved from Blog City to this very domain, with a load of help, initially from Kingsley and then from Madman. Damn you guys. You should have refused to help me, saving me from this obsession.
Anyway, as I was saying, 2003 was the year I was cursed.
I, who hated habits, chose to form a lasting one.
I, who wasn’t addicted to anything, allowed myself one vice.
I, not bound by anything, willingly tied myself down to a page on the web.
Time’s come to cut the bonds that tie me. I’ve grown, learnt that I am more than just my words. I am more than my childish attempt to be popular.
I am Chandrachoodan. This is just a website. it will be no more what it is. I will be.
The bigger story
There are only two stories in this world.
- The guy gets the girl
- The guy doesn’t get the girl
Everything else you can come up with is a variant or add on of this.
Just when you plan to stop
I intended for the last post to be the last post. I intended to kill SelAm by remembering every blogger I met and by hoping to meet more.
And I would have too, but this one is too funny a search to let pass without any comment.
Dear curious friend from Miami, Florida.
You asked do people with amnesia always stop loving
Now, I am no expert on Selective Amnesia, seeing as how it’s been only two years since I got affected. But I do know for a fact that you don’t stop loving just because you have memory loss.
True, you might not remember who you love or for what, or even if the person you love is worthy of your love, but I think it only spices up the whole affair. Don’t you? You can go back every evening and start loving who-ever it is you love freshly, with a clean slate and all that.
Try it, and do get back to me with the results.
Sincerely,
Your partner in memory loss
Chandrachoodan
Of Blog Meets and New Old friends
A post by Amit Varma that I wish I had written.
Over the last two years, I’ve met so many new “old friends” and cherish the time I spend with them. I would like to take a bit of your time in talking about some people I’ve met and admired, on the blog and off.
- Kingsley – the first person who ever blogrolled me, the only person who still listens to my wildly crackpot theories on the origin and history of Tamil.
- LazyGeek – Who still thinks I would never go wrong. One of the first good friends I made since the invention of Selective Amensia
- Kiruba – The first blogger I ever met, in a place I didn’t expect to meet – a Ryze mixer. The guy inspires confidence, jealousy and loads of fun
- Chenthil – The Blogger I’ve met the most. Our weekly meetings at Drive-In Woodlands, over a coffee and book have fortified many a late night in office
- Divya – A damn cool girl, this despite the fact she criticises every design I come up with.
- Suman – This guy is his blog’s alter-ego. Cool, composed and among a few with whom I can be me
- Yazad – The Lord of the Cartel, in a totally jovial way. A guy responsible for my expanded vocabulary – making words like Libertarianism, Anarcho-capitalism and more, part of my daily conversations
- Ravikiran – Besides sharing the same zodiac, and school of thought, I started blogging two weeks after he did. If one guy inspires me to be coldly logical, it’s he.
- Gaurav – I really don’t have to add anything new about Gaurav, do I?
- Aadisht – A real cool person to hang with. His fun takes on daily routine still has me in splits
- Madhu Menon – Besides the fact that he maintains my blog, listens patiently to my wholly unreasonable demands and complaints about this blog, runs one of the best retaurants I’ve dined at, points out every typo and spelling error I make, I know nothing of this person.
- Sudhon – This guy, now AWOL, organised the first ever blog meet I attended. And was directly responsible for my meeting most of the Chennai Bloggers I’ve met
- Satish – There are two things certain in life. His comments and taxes. I can always evade taxes
- Nirenjan – Coming up with a funny description of him is a difficult ask. Sincere, sober and great pal
- Charu – Somebody who believes in me more than I do. And infectiously so. I still haven’t thanked her enough for a lot of things
- Amit – It’s a bit difficult classifying Amit. Do I put him down as a friend for all times, or somebody I can’t wait to know more about? I guess he can straddle both easily.
- Ravikumar – Here’s one more person who thinks I hardly, if ever, go wrong. Shares my love of coffee and books
- Anand – A year my senior in school. Acts a year junior in enthusiasm, when it comes to blog meets, offline activities and stuff. I’ve had many conversations with him about films, screenplay, advertising, creativity and other such stuff. Great old friend.
- Nilu – Another old-school pal. Am I going to endanger myself talking about him, or to him? I really don’t care.
In no particular order
It would be really unfair to not talk about some other great people I’ve met. Harini, Dina, Prabhu, Harish, Praveen, Ramya, Vaijayanthi, Somu, Sheky, Vijay Venkatesh, Anil, Pleo, Sudish, Ramnath, Shyam, Aparna, Bajji, Muthu, Yardboy being some of them. (again, no particular order)
At last count, my blogroll was 150 links long. It’s really difficult to go through everyone of them. If I left you out, purely unintentional. I really am happy I met you all. I only wish I could do this for a living.
As to some who I know almost as myself, but still haven’t met – I can hardly wait. Michael, Patrix, Selva, Arnab, Karthik, Aekta, Anita, Hemanth, Jax, Debashish, Alpha, Kaps, Nitin, Mukundan, JK, Semantic Overload, Arun, Sumit and the rest of my incredibly long blogroll.
Thanks all for the conversation, the fun and the writing.
About
Chandrachoodan Gopalakrishnan is a copywriter, photographer and goofball from Chennai. He is also an archaeologist, historian and a city lover. He is currently a documentary film-maker and desk-monkey for a film production house.
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