Someone posted a link to Mukul Kesavan’s recent column in the Telegraph on our News Tab. It is, I think, the first full-frontal attack on the desi blogosphere that I’ve seen published in an Indian newspaper.
And it’s so, so wrong. Let’s start at the beginning:
Every English-speaking Indian man between 25 and 60 has written about the Hindi movies he has seen, the English books he has read, the foreign places he has travelled to and the curse of communalism. You mightn’t have read them all (there are a lot of them and some don’t make it to print) but their manuscripts exist and in this age of the internet, these masters of blah have migrated to the Republic of Blog. A cultural historian from the remote future (investigating, perhaps, the death of English in India) might use up a sub-section of a chapter to explore the sameness of their concerns. Why did a bunch of grown men, in the late 20th and early 21st centuries, write about the same movies, novels, journeys and riots? Why Naipaul? Why not nature? Or Napier? Or the nadeswaram? Why Bachchan? And not Burma? Or Bhojpuri? And, most weirdly, why pogroms and chauvinism? Why not programmes on television? link)
First, my biggest complaint with Kesavan’s piece is his refusal to name names. The “Republic of Blog” is for him guilty of a mind-numbing sameness, but if he doesn’t tell us what blogs he’s reading, it’s impossible to verify what he says.
Second, why only men? Aren’t there lots of Indian women bloggers? Indeed, there are too many to list, so let’s just name one good one: Rashmi Bansal’s Youth Curry. (Readers, feel free to name other Indian women bloggers based in India that you would recommend.)
Third, why not acknowledge that people are blogging in various Indian languages? In addition to its English “main page,” Desipundit links to blogs in Hindi, Tamil, Telugu, Kannada, Bangla, and Marathi. (Sadly, no Punjabi…)
Then the substantive question — amongst Indian male bloggers writing in English, is there in fact a deadening sameness? Do people really only talk about, as Kesavan suggests 1) Hindi films, 2) English novels, 3) various and sundry travels, and 4) Communalism? And do the comments on communalism all take a left-center approach (commonly derided as “pseudo-secular”)? Two of the four topics named by Kesavan, English-language novels and communalism, are a little strange coming from him; Kesavan is himself the author of an English-language novel (quite a good one, actually), as well as a book called Secular Common-Sense. (More recently, he published a book about Cricket, Men in White which I haven’t seen.)
I think a quick look at some of the links at the (now dated) Top 100 Indian blogs at Blogstreet.com suggests a great deal more diversity than Kesavan allows. He doesn’t mention all the tech blogs (there are LOTS of those, and they get many more readers than even popular general interest blogs like India Uncut), cooking blogs, defense policy blogs, or, for that matter, cricket blogs.
It’s true that a lot of what people post on their blogs often isn’t that exciting; it’s intellectual chit-chat, quick links, and regurgitated news. But I think that chit-chat is, in an indirect way, actually a really important sign of a society’s well being. And when the discussions turn to politics, the to-and-fro of conversations (and yes, arguments) that take place on blogs as well as the mainstream media can be a really important way by which democracy sustains itself. Blogging can be one measure of the health of civil society.
I’m actually a fan of “men in white” (Kesavan’s cricket blog–haven’t read the book yet) and I think in a sports context, he’s a fantastic editorial writer. This column, however, was lazily researched and seriously lacking in any original thought. If anything, the desi blogosphere is dominated by low-traffic, personal-items blogs (and the mentioned tech blogs) where people generally talk about anything they please–just as in the general blogosphere where there are zillions of such personal blogs and a few hundred with lots of traffic.
do you think he’s just lashing out at a perceived encroachment on his own ‘territory’ as an established printed-media journalist? I would dare say that the lively debates on blogs such as this would cause more than a little jealousy on the part of someone like Kesavan, who’s own cricket blog’s comments are usually dominated by fairly incoherent rants about various cricketers.
I think the two female blogger that immediately comes to mind is Sonia Faleiro and Lulu Raghavan at her food blog here. Some other interesting blogs in my opinion are Dilip D’Souza Sunil Shibad (Advertising and Marketing Professional from Bombay)and Peter Griffin’s blog. I personally feel that Mukul should share what blogs he is reading and expand his horizons a little mor.
I’m not sure if the column should be taken too seriously, it seemed somewhat tongue-in-cheek. I think a cursory glance at a random set of male desi blogs does give the reader the impression that the author conveys.
Also, I think the author is talking more about individual blogs written by DBDs, rather than something like SM or any of the personal blogs of the SM folk.
Amardeep, I think that Kesavan does make a few valid points (regardless of his overall tone, and the lack of rigorous justification). For instance, the point about travel blogs written by Indians as compared to those written by westerners. I liked the point that for an effective travel blog, the writer has to be from a ‘richer’ place than the subject of the blog.
I’ve traveled in several countries and blogged about my experiences, but as an Indian, I find it impossible to summon the absolute sense of ‘judgement’ that the typical western traveler (even a backpacker) can bring to her writing. I find it similar among other Indian travelers of my age and background. If you read any travel guides locally produced in India, I think you will notice that difference in tone.
Murali, thanks, I didn’t know about Men in White. I think you might be right about what’s causing him to lash out. And maybe the reason he only sees men from a certain demographic is that it’s mainly men commenting on his blog?
From reading his column I’m not sure if he feels threatened by the “Republic of Blog,” and in general I don’t know whether journalists are right to feel threatened by bloggers, since bloggers are completely dependent on journalists who bring them news to link to. There will always be a need for professionals to do that work. More endangered, probably, are the opinion-making journalists, the “pundits”.
And brown, thanks for the link to Lulu Raghavan. Yum, Sabudana khichdi! (When’s lunch?)
looks like the guy wrote a perl script to transform one of the common op-eds that show up decrying blogging in american newspapers. i’m sure the bards decried the loss of memory and mental acuity that came with writing. they dealt.
I’ve traveled in several countries and blogged about my experiences, but as an Indian, I find it impossible to summon the absolute sense of ‘judgement’ that the typical western traveler (even a backpacker) can bring to her writing.
Actually, I think the non-judgmental quality you’re talking about is a good thing, and much western-produced travel writing is seriously problematic.
Kesavan mentions Paul Theroux, for instance. If you read “The Great Railway Bazaar,” it’s full of nasty little stereotypes of the various cultures he encounters as he goes from Europe through Asia by train. (The chapter where he talks about Tamils is particularly mean.) There’s plenty of humor and interesting adventures in the book too, but really his quickness to judge is not an admirable quality. If Indian travel writers lack it, all the better!
(Kesavan does mention that when Indian writers do books based on travel experiences, they are often excellent.)
For awhile I was following some really good Indian travel bloggers, many of whom were writing about their travel experiences within India. But now I can’t dig up the links, and googling “India travel blogger” doesn’t turn up anything. Can anyone help?
I’ve come across lots of food blogs authored by Indian women, some living in India. Based on writing, presentation and my personal tastes, I have five or six of those bookmarked that I visit on a semi-regular basis.
I agree with Razib. What is Kesavan’s baseline? Some imagined golden age when all young men were poets?
With minimal effort, one could pick holes in every one of his arguments, but I don’t think it is worth my time.
That’s exactly my problem with these rants (though my irritation might be construed as the classical defense mechanism!). There have been more than few instances where otherwise respected wordsmiths have written stuff that portrayed them as Web 2.0 n00bs (not that there is anything wrong with it, as Jerry would say). But I am trying to understand how they’d not research their pieces enough. Because almost every single one of them seem to concentrate on the trivial junk and not on the substantial material that is available for them to see. The english is exemplary, but the information they seem to dig up is junk.
There are a few journos though that have embraced the Internet and the picks on #2 would mirror mine.
As for Kesavan, it is surprising that his rant fails to inspire me in any way. Like Murimannered (#1), I have been reading his Cricinfo blog posts (funny considering his “Republic of Blogs” rant) and his arguments are lucid and substantial in terms of ideas.
Amardeep: Anita Bora frequently blogs about her travels. This blog is another. Akshay Mahajan posts regularly too. These are mainly locals in India.
Speaking of desi food blogs, Mahanandi is the grand-mother of them all!
Btw, there’s even a network of “Indian mommy blogs” where desi moms-on-the-way and moms-with-toddlers exchange know-how on the art of child-rearing 😀
Kesavan is not the first desi writer to decry blogging. TOI (ha) etc. had a few op-eds along similar lines.
OT. Have you read Butter Chicken in Ludhiana? What are your thoughts? Never seen a travel book inspire so much debate. One Indian reviewer called it sanitary inspector’s report of India. I thought it had some interesting parts. All that sniping gets tiresome pretty quickly though.
Amit’s right. Many of the female bloggers I come across write about food. Some that I’ve enjoyed reading:
The ladies on Saffron Tree review books regularly. Lulu Loves Bombay
i have to agree with MM – there seems to be some sense of sour grapes associated with this piece. not to mention the fact that just because somebody is writing for a hard-copy/’established’ newspaper does not mean that it will necessarily be of a certain level of substance (as razin abd others have said). he seems to operating on the assumption that journalists are always/mostly great writers with something of substance to offer, while bloggers are categorically incapable of being so.
also, had he considered that certain blogs are very infuential? i’m not sure how much research he did (seems minimal) but if he took this from some form american op-ed, he should have realised that that op-ed would be wrong – one only has to look at the role played by blogs in the last and upcoming presidential elections in this country.
OT. Have you read Butter Chicken in Ludhiana? What are your thoughts? Never seen a travel book inspire so much debate. One Indian reviewer called it sanitary inspector’s report of India. I thought it had some interesting parts. All that sniping gets tiresome pretty quickly though.
I have read it, though it’s been a few years. I remember being impressed mainly by how young he was when he wrote it; the observations he makes at various points do seem a bit dated now. I don’t remember being horrified by anything, though.
As for the sanitary inspector’s line, the same line was used about a much worse book, Katherine Mayo’s “Mother India.” The person who described that book as a “drain inspector’s report” (back in the early 1930s) was Mohandas K. Gandhi.
I swear, ever since SM I have seen more Mahanandi shout outs than any other desi blog (particularly when we talk food).
I’m not sure if this is sour grapes, or rather that the author is frustrated by the lack of distinction between personal and public blogs. I know that all blogs are public (for the most part), but what he’s criticizing is a little silly. It’s like if I wrote personal mass-emails for family and friends and then posted them on a blog [which I’ve done] but someone confused that for being an attempt at actually engaging in in-depth, thoughtful dialogue. I didn’t get a sense, from the article, that he distinguishes between blogs that are similar to personal journals vs. blogs that are aimed towards a public audience with the intention of eliciting feedback, commentary, etc. (I guess the more journalistic types?)
Wow that was inarticulate.
Practicaly speaking if you want to blog about anything off-beat requires more work and some effort especially if that topic is not your “specialization” or your regular “reading” list
The United States also gets hammered with the judgment stick by foreign visitors as a matter of routine…
Sadly, Punjabi is just not going to survive in the long term…I think it will be the first major Indian language to die out.
Amardeep,
You may already know this, but Nilanajana Roy a.k.a Hurree Babu is a blogger who ranks way up in my estimate. She blogs at Kitabkhana and at the Akhond of Swat.
i unfortunately cant compare desi blogs, cause i am a loyal SM user (errr…addict). this blog is like krak.
I read the article and found it sort of amusing. I think it’s meant to be taken in a semi-tongue in cheek sort of way, although I think he makes an excellent point about travel writing. I like Ghosh’s book, In an Antique Land very much (as well as Iyer’s travel writing), in part because it does not carry that oppressing sense of Noblesse Oblige or the even more annoying gosh, it’s SO different here…(no sh-t) when most English speakers write travel memoires on the Middle East/North Africa. Aside from that, a lot of Desi blogs are very articulate and often funny in an interesting way. (unlike me- I just go for snarky…:>)
Mukul Kesavan’s article didn’t really resonate with me. i think its a indian-british thing, with issues like the brown sahib and colonialism not too far from the suface. doen’t really jibe with the indian-american experience, i think.
Manju, I am not even sure he’s talking about the “indian-british” thing. That’s why most (if not all) of the examples quoted by the various commentors here, are all non-diaspora blogs.
i agree anantha, and i didn’t mean to imply he wsa talking about the diaspora. rather, he’s looking at the indain man: anglophones suffering from a post-colonial hangover. british in their hearts but yearning to be authentic, thus the hindi film obsession. and apparently he thinks they all look alike, like blacks probably do to the jena, LA DA.
anyway, that’s what i got out of it, but as i said it didn’t really jibe with me as an american. i watch bollywood for the chicks (with the sound off, since i don’t understand hindi and the music makes me puke) so i’m not quite sure what the hell he’s talking about and i’m not sure he knows either.
i agree anantha, and i didn’t mean to imply he wsa talking about the diaspora. rather, he’s looking at the indain man: anglophones suffering from a post-colonial hangover. british in their hearts but yearning to be authentic, thus the hindi film obsession.
There’s definitely something to what Manju is saying — Kesavan thinks bloggers are babus.
Amardeep, we are forever looking for new Indic languages to add at DesiPundit. If you know of any bloggers you know in the languages not yet featured, please direct them to me.
I don’t think he intended a full-frontal attack on the desi blogosphere even though his first sentence seems to suggest so. His targets are literary blogs of anglophile Indian men who have aspirations of writing full-length books, but lack the necessary time/talent/energy/contacts.
I will admit, I have not seen the vast majority of “Desi-blogs,” I’ve mainly haunted the ones associated with and mentioned here. But, I have found them a great resource for learning the ins and outs of a culture and people I am interested in. Despite what the topics are, the commentary invariably digresses down one path or another in which more about Indian culture (from all over India) is exposed to me and explained a little so I can understand various “figures of speech” and so forth. This is the sort of learning you cannot get in any class or course…it’s almost like being able to hang out with all of you in a local coffee shop and I learn a little every day. I, for one, salute the “desi-blogosphere!”
Why did a bunch of grown men, in the late 20th and early 21st centuries, write about the same movies, novels, journeys and riots? Why Naipaul? Why not nature? Or Napier? Or the nadeswaram?
Because in every age and every country, there are a few great original thinkers that stand for all time, amid the chatter, the noise, the epiphenomena thrown up by the rabble. The blogosphere is just the electronic record of would have passed for conversation in coffee shops or discussion in classrooms in a bygone era.
Intend to spend the rest of the evening walking through the list of top 100 Indian blogs AND all listed above – super! ((Yes, I’m in Fargo this week – pray – how did you know?))
Interestingly Amardeep and the rest, he has made a very discussion worthy observation at the end of his column
Looks like the dude has an agenda too besides his critique of the Indian blogosphere. He seems to be one of those who buys into the saffron brigades propaganda that Hindus are the discriminated folks etc etc and that the Left leaning Indian intellectuals are self hating Hindus. Granted that Indian politics has been guilty of a pandering to the minorities but saying that Hindus are harassed and discriminated is absurd in itself.
Ardy, That is an excellent point and one that I have tried to make many times when discussing with my “orange ” friends.Unfortunately, a lot of educated, middle-class Indians buy into the paranoia that the saffron brigade successfully spreads.
I hate that term “pseudo -secular” because it is overused to drown out any voice of reason.
And L.K.Advani coined the term – pseudo-secularism? I think that’s cow crap!
It’s odd given that Kesavan writes quite a bit about communalism & cricket in his print articles. Apparently he wants us to stick to writing technical documentation and “Other”ing people. He’s an academic afraid that many bloggers offer more insight than he does.
If you have the patience, try this. First grant them that there is some amount of pandering in the Indian political circles. This is anyways wrong and messed up anyways(unlike the highly desired but never going to happen UCC). Then ask these oranginos what their solution is. The following will come forth
Remove all muslims from India. Remind them how many muslims there are (more than 10% of over a billion). Most wont be stupid enough to say these Muslims can just disappear, so you point out that when India makes these muslims leave, India will have to give them land too
Another ‘solution’ put forth is usually a Hindu Rashtra with muslims like Arabs in Israel. Remind them of the numbers and then point out civil unrest and a non peaceful India.
A third solution is UCC and political disassociation from religion. But reports show least progress, education and maximum poverty among muslims. I’ll let you deal with the reasoning when they say this is because of religion (think state’s responsibility in affirmative action, Turkey, and it affects all of us – civil unrest and not purely religious). Plus then one needs to do away with reservation itself and thus it’s not a HIndu issue, it’s an upper caste Hindu issue, etc etc…
I agree that Hindus in India don’t face discrimination in the work place or at the hands of the police, but they absolutely do in arts/humanities departments in universities. And I’m not talking about issues around the early history of India that only trouble VHP types, I am talking about Hindus being made the villains behind Partition and denials of the systematic genocide against Hindus in East Pakistan in 1971 (a significant commenter here at SM rejected this FACT by ridiculing the outlandish body count given on fringe sites like Hind Unity). Refusal to include Kashmiri Pandits in the discussion at Kashmir seminar series in India and at elite schools here in the US. Only Hinduism is examined critically in the South Asian context. I find it odd that many of you like to think in terms of South Asia wide contexts, except when it comes to Hindu grievances and suddenly you don’t see any irritants beyond India’s borders
Ardy, you have to admit the nominally-Hindu secularists’ obsession with Muslim welfare is a bit wierd. Or, maybe you don’t have to admit it, but I think it is. Furthermore, although “making Muslims leave” is a ridiculous idea which no one should take seriously and which I’m actually reluctant to even address, it does not follow from that notion that India would have to give them any land…that was done once already in 1947.
Turkey is irrelevant to this…totally different culture, society, and dynamics than those of Indian Muslims. I agree that the Indian State has a responsibility here, but a lot if not most of this depends on the Muslim leaders (religious and political).
I think the two female blogger that immediately comes to mind is Sonia Faleiro and Lulu Raghavan at her food blog here.
Uma @ Indian Writing is an excellent blogger too, and covers a lot of topics.
Isn’t Sonia a well known writer and journalist too?
Also Amit Varma @ India Uncut is a full time writer who sometimes writes opeds for WSJ and others.
Louiecypher – I think the writer of that article is alluding to the phenomenon in India. As you yourself said as a whole Hindus don’t face discrimination in India. Regarding Kashmiri Pandits, yes they have faced issues in Kashmir and that needs to be fixed but I don’t think countering discrimination with discrimination is the right approach. Regarding Indians being the villains of partition, it depends on who you talk to. I am a DBD and an Indian, I don’t see India as a country that needs to emulate Bangladesh or Pakistan in their treatment of Hindus. What they do is sad, unfortunate and deplorable but it is definitely not something I want to see India do to it’s citizens – Muslims, Christians or Hindus.
And Runa is right, a lot of time when arguments are made for Indians to treat all it’s citizens equal irrespective of religion, the saffron brigade uses the term ‘pseudosecularism’ as a blanket term and tries to attain a moral high ground and say that the argument for treating minorities fairly is the same as pandering to them.
Regarding Indians being the villains of partition, it depends on who you talk to.
First, they were all Indians (Ref: Government of India Act, 1858, 1919, 1935) before the partition. Even some from Princely states too, as they used carry British Indian passport, some not. Sure, there is debate who forced the partition – Congress refusing to share power in 1937, Muslim League raising the specter of civil war 1946 onwards, failure of of Cabinet Plan & Scripps Mission, on an average 100 people dead every day from early 1947 onwards – Agreed all this is open to discussion.
On the topic, Jai Arjun Singh @ Jabberwock is a very good blog.
Amitabh – lets assume for now that the plight of the muslims is largely due to their own religious tendencies. However, it is a fact that their educational levels are lowest for a community. But what does the Govt. do to change this – nothing. Now it is in the interest of all Indians – Hindus too, that the plight of muslims be improved. If someone is educated, their opportunities for jobs increases, they get more preoccupied with finding a stable job, get busy in the rat race etc etc. Thus they turning to communal disharmony, etc, etc becomes probabilistically much less. They also become much better equipped to understand what political moves are good for them and what are not and thus crass appeasement wont fly with them like it does sometimes. The influence of religious leaders becomes less word of God and needs to rational. Also, as Muslims become educated and enter the middle class more Hindus will interact with them through jobs and social arenas and thus the distrust and fear between the two will become less. If a person is similar to me in most ways except maybe some religious beliefs, I would inadvertently become friends with him given enough opportunity for interaction. Some of these educated Muslims will become a seed for liberalism in Islam. Thus the present Hindu and GoI mindset of letting the Muslims be is not going to help, it will just make things worse. Indian Hindus needs to realize this.
I cited Turkey to cite that it is not just purely Islam that causes problems – there is enough socio economic aspect to it. You have a much better chance of a secular, harmonious country if your minorities are also educated and prosperous. The reason does not matter as much as the solution here, and barring some extremists no one is stupid enough to give up the chance for education and a stable job. As for pseudo secularism, I have seen more cases of true secularism being disparaged as pseudo secularism than vice versa. Of course, parties like BSP, SP etc practice a very opportunistic, dangerous form of communalism which is absolutely Pseudo Secularism. I have no issues with that, my issues are with blanketing true secularism as pseudo secularism.
ha ha. i see mukul kesavan is causing consternation beyond his cricket blog.
That was a typo, should have been ‘Hindus’
Exactly, a lot can be debated on this!
Ardy: In your mind, anyone concerned about Hindus is part of the saffron brigade. Maybe you should question your own prejudices.
This is your brain filling in the gaps…incorrectly. Where did I say that I want Hindus to emulate Pakistan/Bangladesh in its treatment of minorities ? I get the feeling that in the real world, you throw around the word “fascist” with reckless abandon
Louiecypher –
And when did I say that you are a part of the saffron brigade? My point was simply, that to me the context was about India, and if Hindus are discriminated in East Pakistan, well I don’t want to see that or it’s reversal in India. Dude relax, you seem to to be losing it without reason.
Louiecypher, I guess I did focus on India ( and thats what my comment was about ) because I don’t think I am qualified or knowledgable enough to speak of what happens in universities etc outside of India on this topic.
Look,I identify as a Hindu and have nothing against my or others’ religions or lack of. Personally I am for the UCC.It just amazes me that educated folk who have never faced any discrimination of any kind based on their religion find it necessary to fear minority religions so much. Why?
I won’t read Men in White because ofhis sexist assumption that only Men blog.
Ardy: You implied it by finding it necessary to lecture me on the necessity for equal rights for minorities, as if I am some kind of unhinged Rediff commenter. I’m simply stating that Indian Hindus do look at what happened in the Sindh, Punjab, Bangladesh, Kashmir and it scares them. If the academic mainstream are content with Marxist or Anand Patwardhan type psychosexual explanations for the rise of the Sangh Parivar , be prepared to accept the status quo. If you want to see things change, you will have to get mainstream Hindus enrolled in the effort to defend secularism. This won’t happen if you tell them that their fears of violent dislocation have no basis in history, which is exactly what the academics are trying to do. Anyway, this is far off topic and I’m not going to respond to anyone
To all the DBDs out there:
Do you think there is something to his point about Hindi movies? That for most English-educated DBDs, there comes a point, around the age of 4-6, where English penetrates and gradually drowns out the mother-tongue? And from that point on, English grows stronger and stronger while the usage of the mothertongue stagnates or atrophies? And that when that process is over by the time you’re a young adult, there remains some kind of psychological longing for the earliest days of childhood when your mothertongue was the only language you knew (and in fact you were quite good at it, for your age at that time?) To me, this makes sense (that there SHOULD be that longing) but based on all the DBDs I’ve ever met, I’ve never sensed that nostalgia for the mothertongue…most DBDs seem quite content with the way things turned out.
WTF.I write about Bhojpuri….but then again I am not the kind of blog Kesavan reads.