These are a few of my favourite blogs - I
Now if u think that a blog a recent phenomenon, a phenomenon of the 21st century, then you are mistaken. What is a blog after all? It is basically an airing of a personal thought or viewpoint on a public forum where it can be read and commented on by many. The internet part of it is immaterial – it is merely the medium. The oldest bloggers are the good old newspaper columnists whose columns are basically their personal viewpoint or thoughts and readers write in to post their comments. But of course the comment moderation is more strict due to paucity of space.
Well, here I am going to list out a few of my favourite blogs in the good old medium of newspapers. The first and my favourite, most revered blogger is Vir Sanghvi. Vir writes for HT and us faithful readers normally get two blogs a week. One is the main editorial piece on Sunday on a topical issue – reservation, Pakistan, politics and politicians – the usual staple of edit pieces. But reading Sanghvi is like watching a beautiful woman speak. It doesn’t matter what he is talking about, it’s a beautiful experience just to read his writing. He has a mix of a chatty personal style where he actually connects with the reader and yet suitably impresses the reader to leave the reader in awe. His other piece is in the Sunday supplement – Brunch. There he writes a piece called rude food guide about all matters related to eating. He is not a chef nor does he claim to be a food expert, but writes as a food lover, as a demanding customer, as a food historian, and as an observer of food trends and what they say about us. Reading rude food is like entering into a whole new world of fine Italian dining and Thai food from street vendors in Singapore and the best chefs in the world and why the French cuisine is the worlds finest, and the unique blend of Punjabi and Chinese cuisine that is found in India. He truly makes Sunday reading an experience!
My second most favourite blog is swaminomics by Swaminathan Iyer. Swaminomics, as the name suggests is essentially based on economics, but Iyer does not restrict himself to boring economics topics, but merely uses economics as the base for his arguments. My favourite swaminomics blog was a piece where he suggested that the govt try to alleviate poverty by throwing 5rs coins from a helicopter. The only people who would scamper and try to collect the money would be the ones who were the most desperate for it – i.e. the poorest. With this the entire chain of bureaucracy through which govt doles reach the so called poor would get eliminated and the aid would directly reach the most needy. This man is truly a genius and I often think of how his genius and creativity is wasted by him not being in the govt as a part of the decision making group. Swaminomics appears in the Sunday TOI.
Two other blogs that I like in Sunday TOI – Gurcharan Das’s Men and Ideas and Indiaspora by Chidanand Rajghatta. Gurcharan Das is like a moral philosopher, he talks about morality of our collective decision, the way forward for India, comments on our value systems and beliefs, personal anecdotes etc. His blog in not issue specific but rather a more general sharing of ideas and views. He writes well, and makes a good point when he chooses to. Indiaspora is a very informative blog about India and the US, and Indians in the US. Rajan is again a good writer, but what I like about his blog is that it is very educating. This week’s blog for instance talks about Indian Taxi drivers in the US. He raises a lot of issues that I’d never thought about, presents startling information, makes insightful analysis, and gives a good idea about the goings on of the globe in general.
Sunday HT also has two other blogs that are also pretty decent. The first is Karan Thapar’s Sunday Sentiments – in which Karan tries to stick to theme of his blog – sentiments. It seems that he’s been given a brief by the paper to not go into Vir Sanghvi territory of current affairs, because otherwise he is a brilliant political commentator and interviews people on all the latest issues in news channels all the time. He is essentially a good writer, but possibly because of the above mentioned constraints his columns are often quite vapid and devoid of any serious content, though he does manage to churn out one or two good pieces nonetheless every month. The second is Kushalrani Gulabo’s Chick Click. This piece, again as the name suggests is about a chick’s online explorations. And Kushalrani plays the role of a chick to perfection. She is invariably obsessing about her excess weight or lamenting her lost youth (even though she’s only 25) or ranting about her boss, the colleagues, Mumbai’s municipal corporation or the world in general. Very funny column – she has a rare ability to not take herself seriously, and is generally quite witty.
Phew! I’m all tired out for today and I’ve only just begin. So I think I’m gonna stagger out this blog into parts. So End of Part 1 folks. Wait for part 2 now.
Well, here I am going to list out a few of my favourite blogs in the good old medium of newspapers. The first and my favourite, most revered blogger is Vir Sanghvi. Vir writes for HT and us faithful readers normally get two blogs a week. One is the main editorial piece on Sunday on a topical issue – reservation, Pakistan, politics and politicians – the usual staple of edit pieces. But reading Sanghvi is like watching a beautiful woman speak. It doesn’t matter what he is talking about, it’s a beautiful experience just to read his writing. He has a mix of a chatty personal style where he actually connects with the reader and yet suitably impresses the reader to leave the reader in awe. His other piece is in the Sunday supplement – Brunch. There he writes a piece called rude food guide about all matters related to eating. He is not a chef nor does he claim to be a food expert, but writes as a food lover, as a demanding customer, as a food historian, and as an observer of food trends and what they say about us. Reading rude food is like entering into a whole new world of fine Italian dining and Thai food from street vendors in Singapore and the best chefs in the world and why the French cuisine is the worlds finest, and the unique blend of Punjabi and Chinese cuisine that is found in India. He truly makes Sunday reading an experience!
My second most favourite blog is swaminomics by Swaminathan Iyer. Swaminomics, as the name suggests is essentially based on economics, but Iyer does not restrict himself to boring economics topics, but merely uses economics as the base for his arguments. My favourite swaminomics blog was a piece where he suggested that the govt try to alleviate poverty by throwing 5rs coins from a helicopter. The only people who would scamper and try to collect the money would be the ones who were the most desperate for it – i.e. the poorest. With this the entire chain of bureaucracy through which govt doles reach the so called poor would get eliminated and the aid would directly reach the most needy. This man is truly a genius and I often think of how his genius and creativity is wasted by him not being in the govt as a part of the decision making group. Swaminomics appears in the Sunday TOI.
Two other blogs that I like in Sunday TOI – Gurcharan Das’s Men and Ideas and Indiaspora by Chidanand Rajghatta. Gurcharan Das is like a moral philosopher, he talks about morality of our collective decision, the way forward for India, comments on our value systems and beliefs, personal anecdotes etc. His blog in not issue specific but rather a more general sharing of ideas and views. He writes well, and makes a good point when he chooses to. Indiaspora is a very informative blog about India and the US, and Indians in the US. Rajan is again a good writer, but what I like about his blog is that it is very educating. This week’s blog for instance talks about Indian Taxi drivers in the US. He raises a lot of issues that I’d never thought about, presents startling information, makes insightful analysis, and gives a good idea about the goings on of the globe in general.
Sunday HT also has two other blogs that are also pretty decent. The first is Karan Thapar’s Sunday Sentiments – in which Karan tries to stick to theme of his blog – sentiments. It seems that he’s been given a brief by the paper to not go into Vir Sanghvi territory of current affairs, because otherwise he is a brilliant political commentator and interviews people on all the latest issues in news channels all the time. He is essentially a good writer, but possibly because of the above mentioned constraints his columns are often quite vapid and devoid of any serious content, though he does manage to churn out one or two good pieces nonetheless every month. The second is Kushalrani Gulabo’s Chick Click. This piece, again as the name suggests is about a chick’s online explorations. And Kushalrani plays the role of a chick to perfection. She is invariably obsessing about her excess weight or lamenting her lost youth (even though she’s only 25) or ranting about her boss, the colleagues, Mumbai’s municipal corporation or the world in general. Very funny column – she has a rare ability to not take herself seriously, and is generally quite witty.
Phew! I’m all tired out for today and I’ve only just begin. So I think I’m gonna stagger out this blog into parts. So End of Part 1 folks. Wait for part 2 now.
posted by philosopher stoned | 11:31 AM
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