Desi Train

So it’s been about 24 hours since I became aware of a storm in apun ka Desi Blogging community. Driving at breakneck speed to reach office this morning, I clear the emails off my pc, and logged on to check the latest activity on the IIPM – Sabnis – Bansal controversy. Things seem to have slowed down. Or is everyone having their usual cuppa chai, tea or mocha before getting back into action? Un, Dos, Tres…refresh Technorati’s search on IIPM. Un, Dos, Tres…refresh again. And again. And again. No new blogs on the IIPM issue since I left work last evening.

I hit the addresses of a few bloggers who had posted on the IIPM issue. Very few updates. Some bloggers moved on to talk about other issues. A few provided new links to new articles or blogs on the issue at hand. No new updates on Bansal and Sabnis’s blogs as well. Varna’s blog has her last post where she revealed about the legal notice she has received from IIPM.

Then I read somewhere that close to 300 bloggers have blogged on IIPM since the issue erupted. 300 bloggers punched in their support. Perhaps we need to be around 3000…30,000 or 3 million and more to create a visible impact, an impact which brings about a positive change in our community, society and nation. I was actually expecting a collective online drive amongst bloggers, or an action plan or more investigative blogging unearthing more crap about IIPM and its management. Or perhaps something like a Gaurav Sabnis fight fund, Collective signatures to protest against IIPM which would then be sent to the various sections of the Press, Government, Education Bodies, NGOs, or other bodies who work towards protecting the democratic rights of the citizens in India or elsewhere. So far none of that seems to be coming along. Maybe I jumped ahead of time hoping to notice bloggers bringing about a change without having to march on the streets in India and without having to break burn and damage public property. Perhaps we are just 300…30,000 or even 300,000 could have made a difference…perhaps.

IIPM meanwhile looks to have taken the silent route. No statements, no clarifications, no nothing. Nada. Zero. Zilch. One wonders if it is because they don’t have a PR department or because they don’t have anything to say or because they don’t know what the fuck to say. Why the press hasn’t picked this up? That’s because they won’t hammer their most cherished client, one who spends millions in ad revenue.

The whole tragedy of this will be that when bloggers have moved on with their lives, Sabnis and Varna will be left alone to defend themselves in the courts (if the matter reaches that stage, that is). They would be the only ones defending and fighting for the Freedom of Speech for all us bloggers here, while we are sucked into our individual lives, occasionally remembering fondly of a blogging storm which once took place in the Desi Blogging community. A storm which rose, fell and disappeared, having lived for a day or two at the most. Hopefully things may not turn out that way and the dream of change which all dreamed last night may turn into a reality…whatever the numbers of desi bloggers be; 300 or 3 million.

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This entry was posted on Wednesday, October 12th, 2005 at 9:21 am
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