I have the following observation on this thread:
I will presume to co-opt Arindam as a "BRF person" and ignore all the other good things he does, because that's a natural thing to do.
Given that, consider that this thread is about a BR -origin article which has definitely won international
mainstream acclaim.
Why do I dare claim "mainstream"? Because, slowly - or rapidly, but surely, the e-mail circuits and websites are becoming the
real mainstream of desi-related media. Yeah, there are still zillions of "India accuses .. Pakistan denies .. only moral support" type garbage trying to "explain" indiapakistan to the ignorant, but for people who want to know the news, those dorklications are irrelevant. By the time I see something in those "media", I have long-since seen it circulated on the e-mail circuit, and dissected in detail on BRF.
Permit me, an old fogey of BRF with a 3-digit postor number, to indulge in a bit of nostalgia - and, with all the certificates I've earned from the Pakis (what was that? "narayanan-monkey"?
) and the Commie-Dorks, some chest-thumping as well.
This time of year, 1998, the e-mail circuits were hardly known. We were all (at least I was) at the mercy of the CNN and Atlanta Constipation types. There may have been a very few desi-POV web sites, but the vast, vast majority were the "ejucated" types - IOW, Pakis. On May 10, 1998, around this time, Jesse Helms was declaring that
"The Indian Government has shot itself in the foot, and probably in the head". And the dorks were nodding their empty heads in violent agreement and approval.
JUST FIVE YEARS AGO.
In 1999, about this time, we were hard put to find, say, 5 sites giving our POV on "Kashmir" or Pakistan, even as the Pakis launched their huge attack on India, backed by paratroop regiments and nuclear threats. NH-1 was firmly closed - the brave convoy drivers were dying from the accurate Paki artillery being directed from the ridges, and Indian soldiers were dying trying to fight uphill against machine-gun fire. Without proper boots. Or being tortured to death by the perverted savages. Siachen seemed a goner - and with that, Kashmir, and the integrity of India as we know it. The Republic was never in more danger.
THAT WAS FOUR YEARS AGO
What a change! And I think we on BRF especially, have at the very least ridden the leading edge of the Indian Wave. Damn it, I'm being too modest here - as I have no right to be! BRF people
DROVE very large segments of that wave. We cajoled, argued, persuaded, certainly bullied, and I hope inspired to some extent, people to take the initiative - and showed that everyone could contribute something positive. We believed that we COULD make a difference.
And we have.
The Wave is moving - and growing as it reaches shore. I give the "mainstream" dorklets maybe one year before they either change or get drowned or washed away into the sewers. One of these days, "our" sites should take on the e-business too (or maybe the e-business advertisers will take care of the problem) and put the dorks out of business.
Note that the worst holdouts are the most "secure" in their print circulation - TOI and The Wimpoo. That's because, as one of the dorks said, there are only 3 computers per thousand Indians.
Think about that number.
THREE COMPUTERS per thousand Indians!!! Not so long ago, I would have been amazed to hear of that many TV sets per thousand Indians - and I am old enough to be amazed at that many telephones or even radios per thousand Indians.
That number is exploding - far faster than the population. And with that, out goes the arrogance of Naxal Ram and his creations The Wimpoo, BOOTLICK, and the Times of Islamaintbad.
It occurs to me that in 1984, I wasted a lot of energy trying to persuade a local Marxist union neta in a Kerala university, NOT to go agitating against the introduction of computers in university offices. I tried to convince him that his efforts would be far better spent on demanding that the administration TRAIN his people to USE computers, rather than replace them with new operators - that it was easy to learn to use computers. Fortunately, the Commie was in no mood to listen - and his organization fought and were run over by progress. Otherwise the Commies might have got the jump on the New Mainstream Media, like they have tried to do in the West with the FOIL and the South Asia Communist Web.
Note that the enemy has tried hard - and without extreme efforts from us, they may have had a chance to destroy us. The websites, until recently, used to be pretty slick and well-done : far better of course than their stupid bigoted content.
Sorry for the long rant, but one has to take time out occasionally for some pat-our-own backs pow-wows.
Congraulations, Arindam! You've established a new landmark on our roll across the Media Empires that once looked so monolithic and untouchable. And your article is not just an occupation of a border village - its a direct precision strike on the Presidential Palaces of the Dork Media.