Dancing with Dogs: Blog Mela: Weekend Edition

Blog Mela: Weekend Edition

Now that my boy is finally taking his morning nap, I guess I can start my thing and put the Blog Mela up :) There were a lot of really nice and interesting posts as usual, so let’s get to it -

Blogging is as much about writing to give what your readers want as it is about wanting to express your opinions and views - Known Turf looks at the Hindi literary world of today and wonders if the writers are getting out of sync with the readers. On a very similar note, Neelakantan wonders if airline carriers in India are overestimating their demand and ponders on the possibility of an air-jam.

My journey from a girl who would wake up at 4:30 and bathe in with coldwater at the well in the chill of November and keep day-long-fasts without drinking water even to someone who doesn’t give a damn about the existence of God was a rather long and tedious one. Yazad seems to have a more interesting path in both aspects, as he debates about the nature of God and some questions and answers from his religious background.

Here is a bit about some religious misfortune, in which Srikanth writes about how temples are turning to junkyards.

You have probably heard and been as annoyed as me when people say “think about those less fortunate than you”, when you are frustrated about something. Once in a while though, it does give you a sense of perspective to look around and see those truly less lucky, but possessiing of more pluck and heart. One such inspiring story is that of Jana.

There are more than one kind of unfortunate and Charu writes the story of a maid caught in circumstances beyond her just because she is an immigrant.

Calling this story unfortunate would grossly undercut the true horrors and torture experienced by the two Tibetan women, whoa re focus of Dilip D’Souza’s blog.

Continuing our series of unfortunate events is the narrative of Vikrum about his visit to a slum as part of his social program, Akanksha - there is as much as despair in the slum, which is a very good sign.

People of course, are not the only unfortunate ones, but animals can be too - especially when they live amongst a callous and uncaring populace as evidenced by Uma’s post.

Many things can be said about Sachin Tendulkar - awesome, superlative - but less fortunate is definitely not one of them. Here is a look at the Tendulkar effect on Indian cricket from someone in the US.

Guilty pleasures - we all have them, whether it is something as simple as eating icecream in the rain, or buying expensive brand name clothes. Dilip D’Souza loves wandering by the Dhobi-ghats when it is raining.

Sunil Laxman’s guilty pleasures on the other hand, are the Iyengar Bakeries. Jitendra’s secret passion (used-to-be) internet chat rooms - I wish I could make more fun of that, but cannot, since I did once pretend to be an overweight, 40-year-old man in a chat room - don’t ask why!

Astrology has been one of pet things of mine for a while to the point I can spout Linda Goodman in my sleep - here is what Vishnu has to say about palmistry (there is some palm-reader CYA involved).

Ramnath gets a little serious and explains about the privatization of businesses by the Government and some inner workings.

Mela Part Deux

Nitai talks about French cut, bootcut and masturbation (yep, you heard it right!) while discussing the attitudes of people from different corners of his life. He also compiles a “zagat guide” of anything and everything (and I mean it!) that you want to know about Kolkata.

India genie will not be outdone in the review and recommend department, so he presents a mouth-watering post reviewing the various food offerings in Bangalore’s finest places.

Pagalguy explains how the recent farce at Formula One was really Michelin’s fault and wonders why people seem to be blaming Ferrari in the situation.

Nilu talks about “status quo” and makes you want to argue with him, think further about his points and pull your hair out at the same time in his inimitable way.

I like programming and the entire hectic schedule of the development world. Don’t get me wrong, but I even enjoy the hurry and the adrenaline rush of meeting a deadline and the joy of a job well-done. If I didn’t have to work for a living though, I wouldn’t probably choose to do this everyday. Not all of us are as lucky as Navin Harish, it seems :)

~~Surya~~, oops Nanopolitan, on the other hand is concentrating on languages and thinks that kids should be taught as many languages as possible in their early years, since they pick them up easily at that age.

Greatbong completely disembowels an educational institution in Mumbai and a few others that are trying to deflect the blame for bad education from poor standards to skimpy dresses on female students.

Speaking of female students, here is a man after my own heart - a feminist!

Enjoy, folks!

Amit Varma is hosting the next Mela, so please send in your nominations to him…

Posted by shanti at June 25, 2005 10:28 AM