Category: Ramblings

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Freedom Of Speech and the Damocles Sword

Okay, India got its independence on 15th Aug 1947, so what? As citizens of free -India we exercise the fundamental right of free speech, so what? As law-abiding citizens, we add a footnote to all our thought process saying “It is my opinion”, so what? Being reasonably social towards fellow citizen, we say, “hmm.. so that’s what you say”, so what ?Wondering why I am so angry? Read along, you will see my reason.

It is my assumption that, if you are reading this post, then it only means one of the two things. You are either a blogger, or well aware of blogs ( ie to say, you exactly know the difference between website and a blog.. please don’t make me get into the definition of blogs and stuff. I neither have the time nor the temperament now). In such case, it goes without saying that, we use blogs to voice our opinion to connect with like minded people who share similar concerns / interests. Whether we totally agree to what others say at their blogs is at the discretion of the individuals. Earlier, we used to speak our mind amidst friends and peers over a drink or smoke. Since blogging entered the mainstream internet, they take the position of “opinion” boards. After all, every person is entitled to his / her opinion, and blogs just gives just that opportunity. Well, that’s what you ( we all) thought … hmmm…

Going by the recent Supreme Court judgment, as on Times Of India – 24 Feb 09, Bloggers can be penalised for what they say in their blogs. This judgment has come in effect because,

19 year old guy started a community in Orkut against Shiv-Sena. One thing led to another and “voicing opinion” became abusive and defamatory on personal level.ie.. someone commented on this guy’s community/

Again.. i am not a member of this community, but this is what i gather from what i read about this over the internet. May be that sparked off the big and mighty party-enthusiasts to file against this teenager, as to “hurting public sentiments”, rest is history, read the link.

From my own twisted sense of interpretation of free-speech,

  1. The fundamental right of “free-speech” comes with a social responsibility. We are rightly entitled to our opinion, but how we put it across is the vital part of this social responsibility. Are we operating within this paradigm in your blog posts ( or community / network.. whatever)?
  2. Haven’t we witnessed a situation in the real world, wherein we say something, and sooner or later it comes and hits us right in the eye. Why is this any different in the virtual world? Can we put a disclaimer (“All content are personal opinion of writer”) and blissfully wash our hands off consequences of our words?
  3. When an argument gets out of hand, don’t we all amicably agree to disagree? Again, this is in adhering to the norms of decency and decorum of the situation. From whatI have seen in the blogosphere, most bloggers are doing just that. This is respecting free-speech even if the content does not please you. But strangely though, it’s the non-blogging population against the blogging population when this scenario comes up on the virtual world.
  4. Every time a “sentiment is hurt”, can one call upon the clause of “hurting public / private/ personal/ religious / communal sentiments” and file a case on the court of law? Wherever there is a disagreement, there is bound to be “hurt sentiments”. But using “only this”, be THE valid reason for such a complaint?
  5. Every person derives his / her opinion from what he sees, reads & listens to what is happening around. His ability to frame his thoughts into an opinion makes him a better citizen as he is now socially aware. If so, how right is it to expect a socially aware citizen to keep this thoughts to himself?. Doesn’t this defeat the purpose of free speech?


Thats not all , I am very much interested to know how this judgement was arrived at. Again, please don’t get me wrong, I am not questioning the judgement, but merely requesting the sequence that was seen thorough, to arrive at this. My curiosity stems from the fact that I am an average blogger, I blogs in my free time, I have an opinion and I would like to know others too, I try my best to adhere to social norms of “agree to disagree”. No lengthy legal jargons, just giving us some pointers will shed light for us allm to see the Honourable Judge’s perspective as well.

Dear Sirs,

  • Did you visit blogs prior to hearing this case (or, any case on blogs) ?
  • Do you remember the concept of the very first blog you visited ? ( movies , books, personal.. etc etc).
  • Do you personally read blogs, or depend on your secretary to give you the information from blogs ?
  • Does this mean, “Freedom of speech” comes with a Damocles sword?, at the bloggers own discretion ?


I strongly recommend that you also read the following. Feel free to give me a link to add to this list.

  1. Reader’s Resonse at Times Of India
  2. TOI’s report on blogger’s reaction.
  3. Anu’s worry on keeping her free thinking atitude
  4. Dhananjay’s Burden of Accountablity

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A Surprise that Met me Half way Across the Globe

It was not until I started drafting this post, I realized that it is already two years since I first posted at Horizon. There have been a frenzy of activity when I used to make 3 posts per day, and , also the times when there would be no postings for more than 3 – 4 months. I have come across some wonderful people along the way like Ramdas , Vishesh , Priya , Arthi , Kumar , Ramya , Shiva , ExpatGuru , Prashanth , Marcia , Bruce , Alex , Lisa , Frederick , and many others through blogger.

Here I must mention that the seeds of acquaintance bloomed into friendship on account of an unwritten code of ethics that each of us followed up to the tee. None of us have requested the other person’s personal details, and we do not flood each other’s inbox with mindless fwds. If only the rest of the cyber-population would follow this, internet would be a much safer place. But then, where there is light, there is shadow.

Slowly, without even realizing, I began to stray towards niche blogging. Poems by Priya , Vishesh , Arthi , & Shiva had such a strong influence on me, that even before I knew it, I was penning my own poems as comments in their blog. Unlike prose, poetry is not mindless chatter. It requires deliberation and involvement of intelligence and intellect.

Priya and Arthi continuously insisted that have my own poetry blog where I can keep a record of the verse that I had penned in reply to their poems. They would reason with me telling that , “With every new post, the previous post and its comments gets buried deeper and deeper into the archives. There is no way you can get back your poems even if you really wanted to”. It took them almost 2 months of gTalking to convince me and ” Appreciating Poetry ” was born.

Many of you might be wondering over the lack of activity at ” Appreciating Poetry “. It would be dishonest to say that I am no longer inspired. I am more than inspired.. I am awed. Presently, I am in europe, and the hotel wifi is highly unpredictable ( connectivity lasts from 10 min to 2 hrs only per day). And for poetry, I require to stare right into those words, only then they would rhyme intune with my thoughts. With limited internet, it was becoming extremely difficult for me to “connect with poetry”.

Imagine my surprise, when one fine morning I see a mail from a fellow blogger ( who pens extremely lovely poems) enquiring if I will still be here in Europe. She further outlines her plans to drop by even though it is a bit detour for her. Unmindful of the fact that I am browsing from a public terminal, it was toothy-grin. Plans were laid and schedules were discussed. We have exchanged mails and had voice chat over gTalk in the past. But, never for once we requested photographs, not wanting to inadvertently offending the other person. I would call this as a tech-age-pen-friend. I was so filled with excitement the night before; it was well past midnight when I did manage to get some shut-eye.

I must say, even if we lived across the street, we would hardly recognize each other. All that was required was a squeaky “hi” from both of us, and instantly we were transformed from strangers to long lost friends. For once, our spouses were spellbound and had no idea how to react. Little did we imagine in our wildest dreams that we would meet halfway across the globe. The plan was to drop by for an hour, but eventually stayed up until dinner. Oh …boy ! we did enjoy those moments.. Didn’t we Priya ?

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WE -The Brat … our wants -and- our needs

Have a toddler at home ?..Ever watched a toddler in a supermarket?. The demure ones that toes along with the parents is a treat to watch… and sometimes we often remark “Cho..chweeet” and move on with our purchase. However, how about those “brats” who would just not listen to their parents and continues on their tantrum-spree over something at the display window? We have seen parents who give an awkward smile to the fellow-shoppers and continue to ignore the tantrum, or indulge in futile attempt to reason with the “brat” ( we all know it never works) and eventually giving in to the “brat’s” tantrum….. Now.. YOU HOLD THIS SCENE IN YOUR MIND

If you think this post is about “how parents should react to a brat’s tantrum”, then you are seriously mistaken. Here the child desires for something that he wants … ( He sees in the display , sees everyone else has it, and “just wants it”).. there is no reason behind “want”. However “Mommy knows best”, and she would not get it unless the child “needs it”. What would you do when your toddler throws a tantrum?

Sometimes, aren’t we all behaving like brats? Always yelling (although not as loud as the toddler).. “I want this”, “I want that”, “He has got a promotion, why not me”, … sounds familiar… aren’t these the tantrums we throw while we are so called “praying”… (..now .. don’t tell me that you are always praying for world-peace… we all pray for world-peace and in the well being of everyone else… but that is just the starter… ) what follows is most definitely the tantrum of our wants , desires and “I wish”

I donot intend to impart valuable insights into the power of prayer or trusting in your abilities or building and acting on your level of self confidence. I presume we all are capable of doing that ourselves.. (I hate it when someone “advices” me on….”blah..blab…you have to belive in yourself…blah…blah…)…. This is not something that can be taught… It has to come from within..

Sometimes, “God” ( if you may allow me refer to the supreme force) responds to our wishes (read prayers) just like the mother at the supermarket. I have come to believe that he would not grant me my wish unless I need it. So I have begun to reformat my prayer to “Grant me the desire to wish for what I need… rather than.. to wish for what I want”… this way… I am happy as I know I will be getting what I want”… and perhaps “HE is happy as he is letting me to have things that I need”… what do think ?… win – win situation.. eh ??

Pal, this is just me thinking out loud here, wondering did we ever grow-up from the “brat-stage-of-life”. Surely, we have matured by the number of years… but is this maturity akin to wine or waste ( mature waste is also useful as compost… are we ??? )

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