“Indian bloggers today contribute significantly in determining the way India is perceived tomorrow…. If Brand India emerges more as an intellectual superpower tomorrow, we Bloggers can claim our two cents of contribution to it”.
This was found in Interim Thoughts. It is reminiscent of the enthusiasm blogs have generated among the netizens.
It is tempting to view blogging as an example of the liberation the new medium offers. I dont deny its qualities of self-censorship, easy publicity and distribution etc., but isnt it too much to imagine that we significantly determine the way India is perceived tomorrow? We are just a miniscule and not a force to determine what India is outside the computer screen. However that shouldnt deter us from not celebrating this new way of expression opened to us. It is indeed a new way for participatory journalism, another step in social software, a space for the everyday etc. etc. Good enough for applause……..
Blogs are increasingly been seen as new media spaces that allow free and independent voices to be raised and debated and at times, represent us to the world. This chronicle of the routine can as well be recording the pulses of contemporary history of India, well, at least the urban and computer savvy India. What my cursory glance tells me, correct me if I’m wrong, is that the Indian blogging community lives moments of regional and international politics; entertainment [meaning movies, cookery, travel and cricket etc.]; diasporic nostalgia; technological innovations and MNC professions or academics. Quite a good range!
Don’t you think the distance between “contemporary history of India” and “urban and computer savvy India” is more than a “well, at least”? That is the primary reason I don’t visualize a bloggers determining wha India is or will be. Though I agree that what it is “perceived to be” is often determined by this extreme minority, only because it is us who “perceive”!!
Thank You Sudeep for the comment.
No, I dont equate contemporary history of India†with “urban and computer savvy Indiaâ€Â. Blogs record the pulses of urban and computer savvy India, but I believe, they cannot determine the way India is perceived tomorrow. I guess the distance is well marked in this position.
But I would desist from ignoring the pulses recorded by them altogether, in weaving the contemporary history as well. I dont know if that is the position you take. I think, thanks to their dominant position and their adherence to dominant narratives of imagination, bloggers do point towards what the dominant perception(s) of India could boil down to. Disagree?
What you have said in the second para (their dominant position and adherence to dominant narratives that make them point towards the “dominant” perception) is exactly what I mean when I said it is us (this dominant miniscule minority) who preceive, and hence what is “perceieved of” is precisel determined by them. But my problem here is that I don’t want to accept this dominance, and do not want to imagine that this “perception of India” is anywhere near the India that I care more about.
Sudeep, I’ll be back soon…….slightly busy with the Region seminar in our university………
only a line that: I cannot help care about the dominant perception, as if I did not, it would amount to lack of sel-analysis, self-criticism……….more later.
The blog is a nascent medium, even with the millions of blogs already in circulation. As of today, blogs are small, MSM (mainstream media) is big. The folks who blog today are academics, students, professionals, authors and so on. True there are big names who blog, but the bulk of it is nascent. Today they are a small community. Tomorrow, when these small names become big, the perception of India will change. And you can see that happening. From a land of snake charmers, we are respected as a knowledge nation. Check out the weblogs of Om Malik – Gigaom, Rajesh Jain – Emergic both of which are “big”. Also check out the blog of Anand Sridharan (seriously clueless) or venture intelligence or even the Indian Economy Blog.
In that transition from snake charmers to laptop warriors, blogs will play a role, however small.
Neelakantan, Thanks for your reply.
I’m sure the image of India has changed from the land of snake charmers to that of a knowledge community, and I’m happy that it has. But I wouldnt attribute all of it to bloggers….There have been many policy changes in the country which changed realities down here, many academicians/movies/books that went abroad or became popular there, and what about all those professionals who toil it out in India or abroad? I dont want to deny the enthusiasm of the nascent medium, but would be very cautious in celebrating that. Perhaps, if one day comes when those snake charmers have their own blogs…..
Anyways, thanks for introducing me to these blogs, I’ll check them out.
Snake charmers to laptop warriors is not thanks to blogs and as I read my comment, I realised that I had missed saying it. The next leap will be to a knowledge community – which is something blogs can help spread. I am not saying that the impact created by bloggers is a lot, indeed, I would be foolish to think so at this juncture.
These baby steps we are all taking today will help us assert our place in the world of tomorrow. So, the celebration is not for today, it is (hopefully) for (a) tomorrow.
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Hey!…Man i just love your blog, keep the cool posts about India through blogs comin..holy Wednesday .