blog wars

ok, you all know what this is about. war has broken out. on one side is a ponytailed egomaniac and his cronies. on the other side are the bloggers of the world. please see desipundit for updates.

so i have decided that i need to add my two cents to this. why should i bother, someone asked me? i mean, its not like your blog is particularly popular. and none of whats happening really concerns you. so dont bother. post some stories instead.

but i clearly havent taken her advice. i had to put this post up. why? because this isssue is bigger than me. its bigger than each and every one of the bloggers out there. and its bigger than mr. management guru, though he doesnt realise it. this is an issue of democracy and free speech. this is about defending our basic human rights, and in the case of india, our CONSTITUTIONAL RIGHTS!

weve seen it happen before. an artist paints something that offends some group and they threaten him with bodily harm, and the painting is withdrawn. a movie hall is ransacked by people who dont agree with the topic. talk show hosts fawn over powerful politicians for fear of saying something that will offend them. in india, everyone is afraid of speaking his mind. we are always looking over our shoulders in case someone decides to send a gang of thugs after us. we have no support from the police, elected officials, or even the press. the freest press in the world chooses to publish mindless crap and shies away from taking stands on any issue. basically in india, we were not even close to being free.

but then came the internet, and with it the online forum and the blog. a space of your own, that is outside national boundaries. that is completely free from interference by government and non-government goondas. that is what my blog is. its where i express my opinions on issues and speak my mind. it cant be burnt or broken, and no one can stop me from saying what i please.

thats what we all though. thats what rashmi, gaurav and varna thought. now someone has shown that he can take their freedom of expression away. he tried through underhand tactics to cow them through threats, insults and finally some overtly unethical armtwisting. he even caused gaurav to quit.

but he has not won this. in fact, he has no chance of winning this one. for the first time, indian bloggers and some of bloggers from other countries, are united as never before. we may be small, but we have shown that we have the power to really shake things up. really, mr arindam chaudhuri had no idea who he was up against. he is going down and he is going down hard.

the same friend also asked what we could possibly do to him. we can write and write till were blue in the face and it wont affect him a bit.

but thatss not true. the more we write, the more we are heard. the next tiem some student is wondering where to apply, he will think twice about submitting his application to iipm. the lies that they spread are now exposed. no one will believe their full-page ads. we can flood the blogsphere with real information, so that his lies can be drowned out. and that is hitting him where it hurts. when the number of applications to iipm drops drastically, because that is bound to happen.

someone said we should be concerned with the students. well, not really. mr ponytail will just form a new company and hire more people to keep his 100% placement record intact. but as the quality of students entering his institute plummets, he will realise that he cant keep this up.

so i wrote thiss post. because i believe this is important. i also think its a turning point. the bonds between mainstream media and the blogsphere have been strengthened, and non-techies are hearing the word "blog" for the first time. this will give a fillip to blogdom like never before. this is truly an historic event.

and i also wrote it because i want to be able to say that when the great blog war happened, i was on the right side. and that we won.

i also appeal to all my blogger friends to show your solidarity. no need for a post. just say youre here, and that you want to be counted. i know that many of you prefer not to post about political issues, but this is something that attacks your very right to exist. if you dont speak up now, you may never again be heard.

mr chaudhuri has truly counted his chicken too early.

ps - please go to the fake blogs and flag them. the button is on the top right of each blog.