My latest book is The One Who Swam With The Fishes.

"A mesmerizing account of the well-known story of Matsyagandha ... and her transformation from fisherman’s daughter to Satyavati, Santanu’s royal consort and the Mother/Progenitor of the Kuru clan." - Hindustan Times

"Themes of fate, morality and power overlay a subtle and essential feminism to make this lyrical book a must-read. If this is Madhavan’s first book in the Girls from the Mahabharata series, there is much to look forward to in the months to come." - Open Magazine

"A gleeful dollop of Blytonian magic ... Reddy Madhavan is also able to tackle some fairly sensitive subjects such as identity, the love of and karmic ties with parents, adoption, the first sexual encounter, loneliness, and my favourite, feminist rage." - Scroll



Sign up for my newsletter: The Internet Personified

25 August 2005

Rebuttal

Okay since everyone has asked, here is the article, courtesy of Bonatellis.

Bimbodom's new Bridgets


Chick-blogs are rapidly gaining in popularity Stephanie Klein (right) writes an alarmingly explicit blog about her life and sexual escapades


KANIKA Gahlaut Mumbai


Chick flick. Chick lit. Now, it's chick-click. WithStephanie Klein, 29, an art director in New York whowrites an alarmingly explicit blog (http://www.stephanieklein.blogs.com/) about her life and sexual escapades, now having got herself a much talkedabout publishing deal, the www woman is finally claiming her status as bimbodom's new Bridget. Blogging, the daily dairy format, has lent itself to musings on chocolate, calories and other neurotic ramblings ever since the advent of the Net.


However,the faithful readers chick-blogs are attracting ­Technarati, which tracks hits on blogs, puts Klein in the top one percent of all bloggers ­ has to do with a twist they offer to ya ya sister hood.A recent entry on Klein's blog reads: "So even thoughI sometimes wear a tiny black shirt that claimsotherwise, it's really not all about me. There's Abdul of course, who gave me a hand job in the cab, and thenthere's the crush I have on Kim and her tarot cards. When I'm near her, it's all about her."

Chick-clicks worldwide have all the qualities of their predecessors. She suffers from an acute attention-seeking disorder. She is perennially singleand single-mindedly self-indulgent. She is grammatically challenged and confuses similes with punctuation.Yet, her candour is seen as "fresh". Her directness has a lot to do with the medium she writes in. She's the Internet's answer to reality TV, with a lot more sex thrown in. Desperate Housewives can rev up the raunchiness quotient. Bridget Jones will put on extra calories just thinkingabout it. The chick-click scores because she's real, not made up.


In India, where a dress code for college-going girls still calls for heated national debate, blogs are as much a form of catharsis as theyare an outlet for attention deficient females. The mouse, with the anonymity it allows, has them describing one-night stands, vomiting out intimate details with married men in the office. The compulsive confessor (thecompulsiveconfessor.blogspot.com), a blogger from Delhi, uses Torquoise Cottage as a hunting ground for hot men and comes home to daal chawal. On her blog, which gets about 200-300 hits per day,she types out memories of her first kiss, "when there's a pause in the conversation that can only be filled by his lips on yours" (it sucked apparently) and an ex-boyfriend pops up in her entries consistently like an Alkaiser pill ("Off to TC again..Even if He Who Shall Not Be Named will be there in allprobability and now we are "friends", K and I whichmeans he has the license to weep to me about his NewGirl, who is tall and fair and has Lisa Loeb spectacles"). Balaji's Tulsi would throw a fit in her Kanjiwaram pallu.


Consider the profile of Bridalbeer(bridalbeer.blogspot.com), a blogger from Calcutta:"Single, 20s, was briefly in love. I was in New York long enough to miss it. Now I am in India, training tobe a wife-for-life to a relative stranger (not a stranger who is a relative, we don't do those)." Onediary entry states: "Every week, like an accountant'sclerk's secretary's intern, I take stock of myWould-Bes."The inventory is stagnating. The most recent Would-Be was a Good Guy. But I knew if I marry him, he willidealise another's wife, a lucky another's maybe unlucky wife, who cooks Home Food for her husbandeveryday."In the sweat of watching the curry cook, shetestifies her love, devotion. I dislike competitionwhen it is so inferior."Political blogs get the highest hits, but niche blogs,such of the chick-click genre, have their own following for the voyeuristic pleasure they offertrackers. Indian chick-click blogs are ­ if you look beyond the grammar and skip over the purple prose ­ a case study on the schizophrenic nature of being young and working in India. It is about being a Sex in the City girl in a Kyunki Sas Bhi Kabhi Bahu Thi world.



And if Smugbug, a marketing executive from Chennai,fantasises of "meeting a studly Mallu type" on flights ( "sigh, I need to become a frequent flyer to findromance"), another advertising professional fromMadras ( thatonly.blogspot.com), tells her readers, abit needlessly, that "Alcohol is such a strange thing." She continues: "What is it about it that makespeople behave differently? People say what soberness conceals, drunkenness reveals. I'm not so sure... WhenI get drunk I sometimes talk to people I would not even bother saying Hi to otherwise. I bond and laughwithand hug people whose phone numbers I don't know.It makes people I hardly know shove a piece of Lime down my throat. At the same when I get drunk I thinkabout all the people I love and wish they were with me. I think about the men that have broken my heartand feel the pain so intensely and wish they couldfeel how they made me feel."Of course the ranting invites attack.


Killthewomen.blogspot.com is the hawk who swoops in to offer his perspective on the Indian chick click."Westernised women," he says, "have always been thecause of all problems. They make for bad daughters...wives... mothers. Just because they earn some money and are able to snap their fingers at a certain typeof man they tend to assume too much of a misplaced sense of superiority." Compulsive confessor has patented a brand of "semidressed status and high drunkenness."

Smugbug, he speculates, "must be one of those dark-skinned south Indian chicks who uses Fair andLovely on the sly." Bridal beer is "an attention seeking loser."He sums up: "I am just saying that these are a few examples of popular women who need to be publicly lynched as opposed to being indulgent to." You know why, unlike Klein, the Indian chick clicks have not outed themselves yet.



End article, begin me talking


I find it unbelievable that someone could write something like this. I know the journalist, in fact she called me for the story to get a larger perspective on women bloggers. (K, if you're reading this, I'm sorry, but this is what I feel) and I think that she misused it. Completely.



For instance, the whole grammar thing. I don't think I'm Eliza Dolittle. I think my grammar is actually pretty damn sharp. Sharper than saying Turqoise Cottage for instance. And that's just one of the many typos in this article. If you're going to use my name at least use capital letters, let's try it together, shall we? The (capital C) Compulsive (capital C) Confessor. Very good!



And it's all very well writing about first kisses and all. What about the times when I, when all these other fabulous women that have been mentioned write about work? About what stress we face, about being a woman in a country that battles tradition with modernity? About people who hate us for being "modern"? And you're so pandering to that. (Oh it's okay for Stephanie Klein, but as for us Indian women bloggers, oh no, what's that you said, yeah, we haven't outed ourselves yet. Whatever that means) As a journalist, I can't understand the need to prop up a guy who makes a blog out of hating women who are independant and who have a good time.



And hello, this Bridget Jones thing? Has got to stop. I'm so not like Ms. Jones. Do I write about my weight? I do not. Do I write about self help books? I do not. Am I thirty something? I am not. Is my only concern finding a guy or die trying? It is not.



Granted, my blog is frivolous, I'll give her that. I know it is myself. But I thought someone, especially someone who is a fashion correspondant, would get the deeper layers behind the frivolity. Would get that when I write about K., I'm really purging, I'm laying a part of myself on the line. And especially someone who wrote an entire book about a reporter like me.



That's all I'm saying. Anonymous comments are open for this post, it'll be interesting to see if any come in, apart from the usual vitriol that I expect.



UPDATE FROM THE COMMENTS SECTION


Dear CC, My two cents:1. Badly written and largely boring article.2. Your blog does read very much like Bridget Jones.3. You ARE largely attention deficit. Embrace that and deal with it. Denial is not going to help you.4. Whatever she said is (I assume) based on your blogging and not on your writing. It is based on "The Compulsive Confessor" and not on you as a person. Therefore, do not take is so personally.5. Those instances/quotes from your blog are very real. It is something you typed out. You hardly ever blog about work. To a reader, it would seem completely valid. K. is someone you mention ALL THE TIME. You may not trawl TC for hot men, but the blog clearly puts up there for everyone to see, the number of casual intimacies that you've had, lots of them with people you've met AT TC! Lighten up and don't take your blogself so seriously. That is the boon of anonymity.love,An Avid reAder.


Dear Anonymous, Thanks for your comment and much of what you have said is valid and makes sense. It's refreshing to see different points of view on the subject which is why I posted it. Not because I particularly cared for the story, but because I disagreed with what she said and I felt like writing about that.
Seriously, even the rest of you, I re-read this morning and what they say about not writing when you're pissed off is so true because it sounds like I care a lot more than I do, when really the tone I was looking for was cool and cynical and detached. Zen master, I am.
There is another comment I want an answer to though, Annie's take on the whole thing:
Hmmm. Maybe Ms Kanika G would like to answer this - if a 'chick' blogger were to write of other stuff - 'serious' stuff - would their writing still qualify as chick-click? For instance, I'm a young woman writing about work and opinions and my reactions to the world etc. Why do I not qualify as chick blogger? Not chick enough, if I'm not kissing and telling, eh? And if that is your sole criteria for defining 'chick' art (be it movies or literature), why complain?

What IS a chick blog? Any thoughts?

49 comments:

  1. She brutally stereotypes in her chick click article.

    Women's blogs are more than attention seeking, self-loving, cheap attempts to glorify themselves. To me a blog reflects my everyday battles with personal and professional life. Each post brings me closer to identifying my self denial in situations where how I acted is different from how I wanted to. It lets me celebrate when friends cease to exist. It gives me words to cry when I can't complain to the world. It lets me be a loser and not feel embarrassed about it. It allows me to connect when I want to be alone.

    And if in some grammatically incorrect way, it sustains the day job of a journalist who makes up for the lack of compassion by an overdose of criticism, it still serves a purpose!

    ReplyDelete
  2. Okay, post TC angst speaking here, about time I disowned the place and moved on, anyway, it is the angst speaking...

    K as in the K and the bylined K are the same? holy cow! Just kidding, but that is another story best saved for some other day offline :)

    Guess I am going to sound preachy, but you know how this works, you can either write as 'this-is-so-cool' juvenile writer or when you've been around for a while you can hitch a ride on the 'hey-this-is-crap' bus just to be the zabardasti ka contrarian and be dismissive.

    In any case, mainstream media does not understand new media or technology even a bit and it is quite often the case that the column space demands chopping that often obscures the point, if there is any in the first place, beyond any sane level. I've recently had someone asking for help because the same was being done to his column. What can you really tell them?

    Case in point is the time when the MMS scandal broke out and I'd pointed people writing on it to kids from DPS who were blogging about it with the explicit direction to not use them as quotes and surprise, they were taken as direct quotes. Hello?

    In any case, just take a deep breath and ease up, tomorrow is another day, which is like just frigging 4 hours away.

    You'll live :)

    ReplyDelete
  3. I don't get one thing. Or rather these people who are ranting against "Indian Women's blogs" don't get it. Blog: an online diary; a personal chronological log of thoughts published on a Web page; also called Weblog, Web log., What part of "personal" don't they understand? Well yes, it is on the web for everyone to find, BUT IT IS STILL PERSONAL. Hello?!! The blog's owner is entitled to his/her thoughts. You don't like it? Stop reading the blog! Period.

    I get totally ticked off when these so-called "guards" of our society and its norms, attack other people for their beliefs and life-styles. And what is this hulla-baloo about desi girls being "modern"? These are well-educated, minding-their-own-business girls who like to have fun. When did it become everyone else's business? Or is it that the only meaningful existence a girl could have was as a demure-damsel-waiting-to-become-someone's-wife? What a truckload of BS!!

    Actually, this kind of mentality is not new. Only the context is. When I was growing up, having friendships with boys, wearing "modern" clothes, even having aspirations to study and have a career could invite the wrath of these "pundits" of Indian culture. I learnt not to pay any attention to them very early in life. But this mentality still gets to me sometimes.

    ReplyDelete
  4. You are way smarter than Bridget. But she is a journalist, that was her angle, and who looks to present meaning and authenticity in an entertainment / lifestyle article in India? hello, CC, this is not the NYT Style section, or the Vanity Fair main story or even the Vogue. Our most popular newspaper can not be described as Thinking Media and you expect better treatment in a story about Bridget style blog?!!! C'mon, yuo know better, grrrrl!

    ReplyDelete
  5. ...and you are FAR more interesting than the reporter in her book, anyway.

    this article is just a rant from a middle-aged woman who cant live your life any more. and who recognizes that you write better than she ever will. and look better than she ever did.

    and its correspondEnt.

    since have hurled insults at mediaperson, am going anon on this one :) so please dont reply by name.

    ReplyDelete
  6. the article - what can i say... its left me a little baffled.

    i end up reading your blog often. mostly when i miss delhi and know that i will can read detailed accounts of that city thru a fairly colourful perspective.
    i like the way you write and no i do not think its frivolous at all...
    keep writing... ummm i mean blogging :)

    ReplyDelete
  7. I read this article with growing shock, which then went on to morph into disgust!

    I have two issues with this piece of writing (heart breaks at the thought of calling this 'writing'!):
    1. What was driving Kanika Gahlaut to write this in the first place? Is she trying to announce to a wider audience that there are women in India who live the good life and have the balls to write about it?! What is the point of this piece? All she seems to have done is piece together this article with quotes from some of the more popular Indian women blogs and arrived at some rather judgemental conclusions (especially this one- blogs are as much a form of catharsis as theyare an outlet for attention deficient females.) about who and what these women are all about!

    2. I don't see any reason why The Hawk had to be included in this piece?! It seems as though Kanika is empathising with him! Are they soulmates? If not, they should be!

    As independent, "modern" (hate this unidimensional convenient word to describe the new-age woman) women in the REAL world, we have to face and fight off our share of hawks! By giving him cc space in a national daily, Kanika whatshername seems to have vindicated his stance!

    Congratulations, Kanika, you've just set the Sisterhood back by some 200 years! Bravo! And now you can go back to watching your K serials!

    ReplyDelete
  8. LOL!!
    Such Sour grapes!!

    I am going anonymous too! its fun no?!!

    Cheers

    ReplyDelete
  9. at some level there is something seriously wrong with this (chick), but I'd be arsed if I care what it was. What I can't figure is how such tripe finds its way into leading(?) friggin newspapers. I am assuming she is reading these posts and comments around the blogosphere, and i think th best advice is from ostrich:
    go back to your K serials woman!
    (and install spell check for your articles)

    ReplyDelete
  10. Must we take such badly written articles so seriously?

    On a lighter vein...

    I for one thought the descriptor for women bloggers was quite cool ...chick-click or should it be click-chick? I like the latter more...has quite a ring to it :-)

    After this article was published I am sure there was a rush towards the hunting ground for hot men in Delhi...has the temperature been rising in town?

    ReplyDelete
  11. Hmmm.
    Maybe Ms Kanika G would like to answer this -
    if a 'chick' blogger were to write of other stuff - 'serious' stuff - would their writing still qualify as chick-click?
    For instance, I'm a young woman writing about work and opinions and my reactions to the world etc.
    Why do I not qualify as chick blogger? Not chick enough, if I'm not kissing and telling, eh?
    And if that is your sole criteria for defining 'chick' art (be it movies or literature), why complain?

    ReplyDelete
  12. and oh, eM, next time they call you for quotes, send them my way. I'd like to have some variation fun :P

    ReplyDelete
  13. First of all, TC - ROCKS and its not BORINNNGG !! ! no matter what, how many people or no people. It will a light year for Cafe Morrison to become TC and yet will not have the "comfort" of being at TC.

    Secondly, this is free space hence free will to key in what ever you want. The frankness with how CC writes is a refreshing change, but is this a way to seek "attention" is my question.....personal experiences are rarely public.

    thirdly - GO SINUSOIDALLY! GO! i love and agree with what you have say.

    ReplyDelete
  14. I'm speechless. Really.

    I have one thing to say to Ms.K -

    Bite me.

    ReplyDelete
  15. Jeez, will she be doing a piece on mouse-men too? Please do give her my number--I'd be happy to take beyond the soft porn being peddled on our leading portal.

    Sheesh, apologies for that--but aren't blogs supposed to be personal? How does one really go about classifying people as chick-clicks (ostensibly to match the chick-flick genre!)?

    Second Vignesh tho': If she doesn't like him, she sure can come over with strawberry icecream. I'm yummy too.

    ReplyDelete
  16. Dear CC,
    My two cents:

    1. Badly written and largely boring article.

    2. Your blog does read very much like Bridget Jones.

    3. You ARE largely attention deficit. Embrace that and deal with it. Denial is not going to help you.

    4. Whatever she said is (I assume) based on your blogging and not on your writing. It is based on "The Compulsive Confessor" and not on you as a person. Therefore, do not take is so personally.

    5. Those instances/quotes from your blog are very real. It is something you typed out. You hardly ever blog about work. To a reader, it would seem completely valid. K. is someone you mention ALL THE TIME. You may not trawl TC for hot men, but the blog clearly puts up there for everyone to see, the number of casual intimacies that you've had, lots of them with people you've met AT TC!

    Lighten up and don't take your blogself so seriously. That is the boon of anonymity.

    love,
    An Avid reAder.

    ReplyDelete
  17. Journalism thrives on stereotyping. As a journalist, you should know that, now confess. Am not condoning Gehlot's story, it is horribly one-sided and smug, but being a journalist yourself, you should know better than to expect fairness in journalism. Point of view is all that matters, and all facts are moulded to suit the point of view from which you are writing. I'm sure you and I have done it, too. And I'm not being sarcastic, merely bitter.

    ReplyDelete
  18. Not a blogger myself, so need to give only name and not blog-link.
    Interesting article - couple of comments.
    1. So its YOUR blog and YOUR territory and you can write about whatever YOU want to. But she cannot? Okay, okay, this is the public domain, she makes these random, defaming, sweeping statements about your abilities, lifestyle and personality, etc. But, at the end of the day, isn't what you choose to write about representative of what you stand for? Which is, TC/K/partying, etc. None of which is an issue, at all. All I'm saying is that a lot of people, who read your blog read it for precisely those things. So, in case thats the angle Ms. Gahlaut decides to play up in her article, isn't she merely providing you with more readers?

    2. Agreed, you're not a Bridget Jones - you do not moan about calories/cigarettes. Yet, surely you cannot be under the impression that your blog is full of deep thought and well-researched answers to questions that baffle vast swathes of humanity. It IS frivolous, at most times. No big deal. I'd think, most people who read your blog, as you so correctly pointed out, read it since its a refreshing stand "about being a woman in a country that battles tradition with modernity?". You're providing escapist fare to those who want it! So what's the big deal if Ms G feels that you're attention-seeking.

    And finally, I do NOT think you're gramatically challenged, but could
    please clean up the spelling of 'independent' in your post!

    ReplyDelete
  19. ||Killthewomen.blogspot.com is the hawk who swoops in to offer his perspective on the Indian chick click."Westernised women," he says, "have always been thecause of all problems. They make for bad daughters...wives... mothers. Just because they earn some money and are able to snap their fingers at a certain typeof man they tend to assume too much of a misplaced sense of superiority." ||

    EXCUSE ME!!!!!!!!!
    WHO ARE THESE PEOPLE?????

    ReplyDelete
  20. Lady, I visited the offending blog and in my opinion, it is just some frustrated loser who's girlfriend probably left him for a better guy. Hence the tirade on modern bloggers....notice he doesn't mention his identity either...so much for the bashing on the Indian female bloggers' anonymity. If I were you, I'd just smirk at such an obvious bid for attention....daahling, the man doesn't even write well!

    ReplyDelete
  21. Hehe, The things they do to sell newspapers these days I tell you! :)

    Like they say in showbiz, 'No publicity is bad publicity!'

    I am wondering if we can generate a business model around this in any way... Hmmmm.

    ReplyDelete
  22. Crappy article.

    Whatever your blog may be - it certainly transports me into a world that's miles away from mine, it's a daily dose of detachment from the rut of a typical working day/week. (I can safely state that I am not alone here).

    So if it's attention seeking (sometimes, yes), or Bridget-like (again, occasionally, I think), or grammatically deficient (almost never - you're touching Six Sigma on that front), it really doesn't make a difference!

    You carry on CC - looking forward to tales of your escapades, your raves and rants, plaster casts and hangovers....

    ReplyDelete
  23. I so agree with the previous post (Primalsoup). So chill, don't take this article very seriously.

    ReplyDelete
  24. hey eM, my conspiracy theory of the month: maybe Kanika Gahlaut is the Hawk. heh heh.

    AD

    ReplyDelete
  25. You know, I have NO clue who all you anon. people are, even though I know I know you. Really. I'm feeling so COMPLETELY spaced out today it's not even funny. I can't even place AD :) Though I'm sure it'll come to me soon enough.

    Thanks everyone, for your comments so far and can I just say to other people, I AM allowed to talk about myself on my blog and NO, that is not being attention deficient. That is simply writing about myself. I am amazed EVERY SINGLE DAY that people choose to read about my life. Seriously.


    And also, about her having a point of view? Sure, she's allowed to have a point of view, just as I am. But responsible journalism, UNLIKE blogging, means she takes into account my point of view, no matter how biased she may be. For instance, if I'm writing about say, this rapist or something, I WILL get a quote from him or something, even though I hate his guts. I also will resist temptation to twist his quote around to suit my story and use it exactly the way it was said. Ah well.

    But this is fun, no? We should do it more often. Keep 'em coming.

    ReplyDelete
  26. I think in all this brouhaha Kanika Gahlaut (what a way to spell your surname!) has got more attention than she's ever got in her entire life ... thanks to Rat, eM and Primal - and everyone who commented - at least SHE can never complain of any attention-deficiency syndrome.
    And that is despite her grammer ... I am sure our local "bimbos" wont get "outed" by this kinda ambush attack ...

    ReplyDelete
  27. Isn't Kanika Gahlaut the woman who wrote the atrocious Among the Chatterati (haven't read the book, but have read enough reviews and excerpts to know what it's about).

    Apparently she was a Page 3 journalist for The Indian Express and tried to write an expose on the Page 3 party people. Which, by the very sound of it, comes across as moralizing and patronising so I guess Ms. Gahlaut works with a certain template.

    I wouldn't worry too much about her, but good rebuttal nonetheless!

    ReplyDelete
  28. I dont really know what a chick blog is, I probably never will but I do enjoy dropping by your blog once in a while catching up on whats going on in the Delhi nightlife and yours. Its probably like a guilty pleasure or just a desire to be in touch with a city that I have been away from for over 2 years now. I hope you can realize that you have dedicated an entire post f yours ranting against the opinions of a journo whom you claim made some baseless accusations about your blog. This itself lends credence to the fact that you are somehow concerned about the writings of the journalist as they have touched a raw cord in you somewhere. If the writings were as inconsequential as you claim them to be you would have never bother to type out a denial after giving the article so much time and space on your blog.

    ReplyDelete
  29. Hey eM,
    Your blog is FUN..don't change the way you write because of Ms.K..seriously what is with you and the Ks of this world :)..
    I think Primalsoup has the right idea ..who knows you chicks may get a book deal out of all this free publicity ..IMHO who guys write about contemporary young India much better than a lot of other Indian authors merely peddling Indian exotica to the West..

    keep writing...
    Bombay Dude

    PS : Keep the anon comments enabled..too lazy to get blogger accounts just to offer my "wisdom" to you occassionally..

    ReplyDelete
  30. "But responsible journalism, UNLIKE blogging, means she takes into account my point of view, no matter how biased she may be."

    Point well taken....you're correct. It is definitely inappropriate to demonstrate bias in an article in the public domain.

    And re this other loser guy (killthewomen or whatever....). He/she is merely being childish, maybe due to an inability to write a blog which is popular. I dont need to say this, but dont let idiots like this person get to you.

    ReplyDelete
  31. Have to agree with the Marauder's Map ...

    ReplyDelete
  32. Which publication was this in? Can we send letters to the Editor in rebuttal? give us details, ok?
    since Gahlaut prolly doesnt even read blogs or understand its concept. Lets make this public. from web to print. In her middle-aged face.

    ReplyDelete
  33. Wow!

    How easy is it for people to just go through YOUR entire blog, give THEIR opinion, project it onto the so called opinion on 'the changes society is going through' and the publish it?

    How difficult it is for people to understand that it is imperative to get an 'OK' from authors (and yes, blogger ARE authors) when they use their material before publishing?

    Freedom of speech apart, how tough is it to not give importance to someone who has a blog title, let alone reading the blog,of 'kill the women'?

    eM,just be the way you are. It is so damn important.

    Their opinion of your blog made these few people look so small...now that is just one reason you should relax and have a good weekend!

    ReplyDelete
  34. My god the Kanika woman did turn out to be a werido haa? For god's sake what point what she trying to make?

    ReplyDelete
  35. Great fun, this Um-Laut.

    Until people start taking her seriously.

    So which is the lesser evil - ignoring her and taking the chance that others will do so too, or squelching her online and thus giving her more attention than she deserves?

    Make a call, CC

    J.A.P.

    ReplyDelete
  36. hahahahahahahahahah

    yo eM..this is Ferdinand

    have worked with KG and I know who you are ... i just find this all extremely hilarious...

    brightened up "sending-issue-to-press" day.....

    ReplyDelete
  37. Frankly.. u are an attention whore, so try being a lil modest when u are getting it. You have enough time or narcissism to document every tedious bit of minutia filling your uneventful life (and I to read it) and Kanika.. well shes one step ahead.
    The most modest of publicity seems to have shot your ego into orbit. Down doll down!
    And whats all the ruckus about.. The blogging community is full of losers, bed wetters and journalism drop outs. The drop outs sound more like Kanika, bedwetters was an ode to Stephanie Klein and U .. tending to be a loser.. well not there yet.. so get up and get on girl. Thats the EM I know ...

    ReplyDelete
  38. Since when have whores ever been modest? Anon above, what the hell is your point? You read this blog just like everyone else. If you find yourself bored, then move on. There are lots of hawks out there. Go patronise their blogs. You aren't wanted here.

    ReplyDelete
  39. eM--first up, thank you. i was just generally down and bland (my net is being bloody erratic, and i hate that!), but the article you quoted so totally perked me up! a sort of mental punching bag, y'know?

    BUT, (you know ms.g, it seems, so you'll be the better judge)it did seem to me that the woman was, in places, trying to be non-commital on the issue in a tongue-in-cheek fashion.

    the operative word being "trying". *superior smirk*

    ReplyDelete
  40. please take it easy.write whatever the hell you want.its your blog dammit.your own free web space.so you should be the person to decide what you want to do with it.journalists dont matter.i mean arent they the ones who keep talking about freedom of speech.so chill.
    btw your blog does sound quite a bit like bridget jones's diary:-)

    ReplyDelete
  41. A key question here is,"How does a blog differ from other medias, like say a newspaper, or a mag?".

    GettingThere pointed it out here--->
    GettingThere:Blog: an online diary; a personal chronological log of thoughts published on a Web page; also called Weblog, Web log., What part of "personal" don't they understand? Well yes, it "/* on the web for everyone to find, BUT IT IS STILL PERSONAL

    People are free to not read it if they don't want to. They are not paying anything, and the blogger is not responsible for the blog's readability, content or its grammer. If the blog is endangering national safety or has hate propaganda, then it is a different case.

    And hiding behind another blogger's (killthewomen) comments to drive in the nail is very cowardly.

    ReplyDelete
  42. OOOOH lookee what we found here...

    er... if I can butt in for just a dekho here and be all grammatically incorrect, and all
    Is this K - KAY STRANGE?? No ideas ok we shall leave it at that.

    I would have loved to read what the original writers blog is all about!! hmmm
    Cool blog musta saya missy!!
    I shall be back to read up
    cheers
    z

    ReplyDelete
  43. Hi,
    I agree with some of your points..I think the problem arise because most of us confuse modernisim & liberalism with casual sex. Recall when some says that "his/her family is very broadminded"..most of the time it sound like they are talking about sex.
    The same people I have seen are utterly orthodox in their action pertaing to say marriage (insistence on janma- Kundali, stars ,Mangalik's type of fundas), the same people are intolerant about religion, cast etc.

    So its sad when we are taking pride in our development ,IT etc but are still langushing in fudal mindset of 19th century.
    Most of these women are, I think smaller offshoots of cloth sheding Bollywood types.

    Ok, I think I am not a male chauvenist (for the record each and evry adult women in my family is a professional, whom I have seen struggling to juggle career & family responsibility) So its perfectly ok with me when I encounter empowered women..but meeting someone who equates empowerment with sex..boy its diffiult to digest!!!

    ReplyDelete
  44. You know it's funny, all this time I've been reading eM's blogs and it never occurred to me that they could be attacked JUST BECAUSE THEY WERE WRITTEN BY A WOMAN. For the record, I have no fucking clue who Stephanie Klein is- my blogosphere is painfully small, restricted to greatbong, Amit Varma and eM (that's quite a compliment I guess!)

    I must be less old-fashioned that I give myself credit for!If this is chick-click-whatever-shit, I love it.

    What the fuck, eM: there's no such things as bad publicity, you'll realise that soon enough.

    And yes- I agree completely with you on that syntax gripe; your blog contains very few errors- some posts come across as positively literary material!

    Kuttay bhaunktay rahengay- I'd advise you revel in your notoriety (for what its worth), pick up all the hot men at **Turqoise** Cottage when they're still hot and most importantly, keep blogging!

    ReplyDelete
  45. Why do u care so much about what people are saying about your blog? ant they reading it..if they dont like whats in it..they might as well visit a political one ..no? Its YOUR blog for fuck's sake..u can endlessly write about whatever catches your fancy ..and you have a right to..people think what they have to..you really dont have to put it up on the blog..about the negetive feedback or whatever..and I am still in 2005..i have to get to 2009 :) Long read..I read coz it is about my two fav cities in the world..and because it just something I relate to..but nobody really should have a reason for liking something that someone writes :)

    ReplyDelete

Thanks for your feedback! It'll be published once I approve it. Inflammatory/abusive comments will not be posted. Please play nice.