Greetings and Welcome to Blog Mela IV of 2005. A lot of you did write about Republic Day as I had hoped, but I won’t be able to fit all those nominations into the structure I had expected, but that’s okay because I believe that order should be discovered, not imposed. So ladies, gentlemen and others, I present to you the Blog Mela. Make sure that you set aside time for this, because there are more posts than it might seem at first glance.
Anya Mahajan wonders what exactly we are celebrating when we celebrate Republic Day. I’m afraid that’s a tough question as it would involve defining India, a job that may be beyond human capacity.
Ravages posts a picture that IMHO, captures the spirit of the Republic perfectly.
Prashant Kothari, our man in DC, posts on an article that surveys India’s and China’s economic progress.
Seven Times Six writes on ethical conceit.
Ashish Hanwadikar writes about the changes that he observed in India when he visited recently. Most of them are for the better.
Then there are the thoughts of Bhavya Khanna, on Republic Day – a must read.
Nilu writes about missionaries who take advantage of the Tsunami to convert victims to Christianity, and posts a personal recollection. JK too blogs on the same topic.
Some bloke called Sharafat Ali (is that your name or are you a big fan of Bade Miyan Chhote Miyan?) nominated the post announcing the results of the Indibloggies.
The perils of going to the loo in a paperless office. No “paperless” doesn’t mean what you think it does.
Patrix gets someone called Havoc to guestblog about a desperate date.
This would have gone into the “Vignettes” section of the Blog Mela if I had stuck to my original format. A Japanese writes about the Indian Railway experience, contrasts it with trains in Japan, in Hindi!
Chandoo takes the concept of Accounting and applies it to exams. Very interesting if you are an MBA.
Indra Sharma writes a rather fawning post about President A P J Abdul Kalam. Now I like him too, but I am seriously exasperated by our tendency to look upwards for change.
Kiran, the Brooding Dude updates us on the progress being made in infrastructure, and Dilip D’Souza reminds us of the cost and who is paying it.
The Lazy Geek posts a roundup of Sarang, IITM’s festival. But of course, it can never compare with Mood Indigo.
Anand of the now-misnamed MDEII Life posts in three parts (I, II, III) his analysis of the movie GodFather
Sandeep tears apart an article by Rajmohan in the Indian Express.
Gaurav Sabnis IMO, rather badly misunderstands the import of the Atlas Shrugged money speech as he attempts a defence of the Slimes of India.
Finally, we have Amit Varma, who tells a tale with a moral at the end, a moral you’ll have to figure out for yourself.
Well that’s all folks. I have accepted all nominations except one (I didn’t accept one because I guessed that the nominee would want me not to.) and I’ve scoured the net to find more than were nominated. I hope you’ve enjoyed reading the Mela as much as I enjoyed compiling it. I may not be able to post for the next few days till I get to Ohio and settle down, so I hope that this should suffice as reading material till then.
Leela Alvares has a grievance.
Leela Alvares’ FRIENDS have a grievance.
Signed,
Leela Alvares’ friend (and no, she didn’t pay me for this, I dun this free of costed. And yes, ordinarily I can spell.)
WHAT??!!! No action taken yet? I sign the petition too.
-Alpha (Leela Alvares’s friend)
Leela Alvares’ friend
To be pedantic, it should be “Leela Alvares‘s friend”
(It’s a proper noun.)
AAAAAW… So you did accept non-Republic day posts…. :((
Or on second thoughts i screwed up by assuming u would not….
So.. wheres the next one…
(*rolls up his sleeves and puts his fingers to the keyboard)
I refuse to apologise for not mentioning Leela Alvares’ name. It was done with the conscious intent of making the entry stand out amidst all the clutter – with a teaser like that who will miss it? Please do not shackle an artist like me with arbitrary conventions
As for accepting non- RD posts, I thought this would have been clear:
However, as I’ve previously noted, the Reading and comprehension skills of the young generation are rapidly going down the drain, so I am not surprised.
As to where is the next mela, I am afraid I have no answer. Someone is supposed to put up an announcement on that.
Did uncle Ravikiran Rao just call the rest of the entries “clutter”? If anyone has any other grievance, this is the place to voice them.
-Alpha (Everyone else’s friend)
The moral of this story: Don’t mess with Leela Alvares.
Can I join the Leela Alvares friend club? It seems to be a pretty powerful and influential lobby.
ii
To be painintheass, it should be “Leela Alvares friends club”
Thank you friends, pedants and artists. The overwhelming mention of my name in the comment box has more than made up for its absence in the post. I rest my cudgels. 🙂
As for the Leela Alvares friends club, it’s open to all. We have relaxed rules for spelling and grammar.
Please do note who started this all 😉
look ma, the boyish looking uncle!!
(Dear Ravi Kiran, this is a copy of what I posted on SevenSixe’s blog).
Hey Seven Into Six, I came here via a late look at Ravi Kiran’s Blog Mela, and I have to agree with Govind. If Ravi Kiran had any sense, he would have nixed this entry of yours — it is that impenetrable. (I’m going to post this on his blog too).
But I suppose your point is that people who take a stand on ethics can cause damage? If that is so, your entire writeup can be summed up by saying: “I have no use for ethics and values. So I’ll make fun of those who do.”
Isn’t that right, Forty-Two? (That’s the result of Seven Into Six, in case you were puzzled).
– Preeta Mehra
PS — Leela, I’m your fan and her friend’s too. Or friends’. Or friends. Anyway, hi!