| Username |
Post |
| VillageVoice |
Posted
on 26-Sep-02 11:00 PM
Before anyone misconstrues my intention, let's me say this at the very outset. I am in my 30s, and am married (let me add happily). Aba drarma saaf :) Not that I particularly enjoy saying all this in public.
That said, I am a bit wary of the way things have progressed lately here. Why so much intererest in WHO we are, rather than WHAT we write? I just don't feel very comfortable with this. Of course, that's only my thought. If you feel okay, that's fine by me too.
Let me continue. I remember a title in a magazine. No Sex Please, We Are Penpals. It was sometime in the 80s. Then I used to be a regular reader of this magazine, Mirror. It had a widely followed penpal section.
It was also a time when TV and videogames hadn't invaded our homes (cyber postings? A light year away), and leisurely letter-writing was one of the favorite pastimes.
It so turned out that many boys had hounded their pen pals of the opposite sex. And the girls finally decided to break their silence. Mirrror ran and re-ran discussions on the topic for quite a while.
It could be a crude analogy.
But I just feel we need to give each other a little more privacy, personal space. And run after the message, rather than the messenger. I know some regular posters in person, but that doesn't mean much when I sit down to respond to them.
I have developed tremendous respect for Biswo - born and raised in Chitwan (he's years junior to me, by the way) and man of extraordinary talent - through, what else, his postings. (Would love to meet him some day).
Very similar has been my evolving relationship with ashu and paschim, and lately, Suna, anepalikt, and Sitara. (Sorry, if i've missed out some names) Though I had met Ashu and Paschim a couple of times in Kathmandu, frankly, it's through their postings that I came to know them bettter. What should I say: they are perhaps the most widely followed posters here. And that in itself says a lot.
I also got to know Arnico through Sajha. And even dear old NK, a person i have "technically" known since my school days.
That's all. I am not issuing any fatwa against anyone - or anything. Just my thoughts. Something that's been bother me a bit. Good night.
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| VillageVoice |
Posted
on 26-Sep-02 11:04 PM
pls read the second last sentence "bothering me a bit."
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| Suna |
Posted
on 27-Sep-02 06:29 AM
Amen to that......
Some things are just better left undone :).
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| Suna |
Posted
on 27-Sep-02 07:46 AM
Oh VV
Disclaimer:
I was only kidding when I said Sitara was going to get a hiding if she didn't come out of her hiding :) but I presumed people understood that.
DUH!
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| SITARA |
Posted
on 27-Sep-02 12:15 PM
Hey Suna,
Ofcourse I understood that; you are as wicked as me when it comes to wordplay! That was funny tho.........!!!:)
I am awfully shy when it comes to "being smoked out of my hidey hole".... :) Worse than Bin Ladin!!!
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| SITARA |
Posted
on 27-Sep-02 12:21 PM
VV ji....
Thank you for your considerate posting! Very thoughful indeed!
:)
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| bpoudel |
Posted
on 27-Sep-02 03:54 PM
Hi Villagevoiceji,
Thanks for the charitable comment about me. Would love to see you soon:-)
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| bpoudel |
Posted
on 27-Sep-02 03:56 PM
Oops, folks, my user name is changed and I didn't know that! By the way bpoudel is
for what used to be Biswo.
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| NK |
Posted
on 27-Sep-02 05:17 PM
Village Voice geee [:) This 'jeee' thing becomes you]
If it were not so interesting to know and that important about your personal life why did you begin your posting with your personal information? Does that say anything about this whole hullabaloo and "trend" about focussing too much on the posters but not the postings? Why do you even begin to say anything about anybody whom you have the opportunity to see and shake hands and write emails? Why? Can you please examine that? I am still doing....
As we all know this bulletin board falls somewhere between personal email and politcal manifesto and a free ground to furl culture and arts stuff. Our personal information spills right and left and willingly by us and yes yes sometimes by others too. It is very much our own creation - this "unhealthy" attention to "not so importan stuff."How can we ask them to stop being so interested in our personal life? Village Voice jeeee [:)], let me reiterate once again that I say time to time here: We live in a post modern time! There is *no* clear line between what is private and what is public. What *is* an acceptable behaviour from a bulletin board reader? Yes of course you can hope and wish for what you wished for but that is an excercise in futility.
Of course personally I care less who is who.
[ I never ask people to come out of their "nakab" as few (prominent posters of this board) people do here. As if just by posting with their own name gives them a moral authority and make them a judge of others desecration. ]
But when you read something, it is natural to have curiosity about the poster. And, I am sure you don't have objection to that. This natural curiosity may become a full fledged obsession for some. Others just go by posting and having a life.
If I were you I would not give so much mind to what others are doing. Just do what you are set out to do.
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| Najar |
Posted
on 27-Sep-02 05:40 PM
VVji
I think the reason that the sajha is gaining momentum so rapidly is becuase of that extra information that readers get ( I am not talking about....I want a date, i am looking for gf sort of postings but some personal info that the writer spills willingly/unwillingly or a friend/foe/acquaintance provides for the poster). These small personal info supplements the content of the poster by adding a flavor to it. Otherwise there are sevral other nepali websites too, that has articles, discussion and so on, so forth. But they are nowhere close to what out sajha is. I have been a silent reader for the most part, but these days am tempted to write. Can't resist to be part of all this fun fare. This is not to say that I am interested in knowing the CVs of the sajhaites. As long as they are amusing and entertaining in light of public interest, I shall remain happy.
And there are always a wide range of posting that we can pick and choose to read--some of high quality and some not so high quality. So VVji sit back, relax and don't worry :))
And you write well too, VVji. So please continue to write.
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| Logical Sense |
Posted
on 27-Sep-02 06:07 PM
VV is right, NK is right, and all of you are right. So, what is wrong? Really nothing logically :-)
My approach would be keeping some sort of interesing thin veil is always curiously interesting. Remember how curious are those Jantis to find out how the Dulahi looks behind that thin veil?
I remember the scene in one of the movies (old!!!!), when Hemamalini's Anchal flares out by wind out to Rajeshj Khanna's face, Hemamalini very shyly puts it back on her shoulder and Rajesh delivers an interesting dialog "Kuch Kuch Chisen Dhaken Chupe Hin Ache Lagte Hain"! Can't forget that!
So, let us leave it to poster's choice whether they want to keep a veil or give it away, I am for it.
For me, stay as 'abstract' as possible is good enough. No age bar, no sex bar, no country bar, just ABSTRACT!
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| VillageVoice |
Posted
on 28-Sep-02 07:14 AM
tks for a thoughtful response NK.
you, more than anyone else, should understand what i am trying to imply when I say we should give each other more "personal space." you have said yourself that you kept away from the discussion board for a while because SAJHA was getting to be much like a big chatroom. And hence the need for some fresh air. I totally understand.
therein lies the core of my argument: the more comfortable posters feel, the more vibrant will the debate, and Sajha in extension, get. we will all be happy beneficiaries.
I agree it's only natural that one likes to get to know the "messenger" behind the "messages", esp. when the bonding gets stronger :)?? Or else we wouldn't be reading about Abraham Lincoln more than a hundred years after his death. And biographies - and celeb watch - wouldn't be doing a roaring business.
But there's still that thin, thin line ("interesting thin viel," to borrow Logical Sense's expression) that seprates the private from the public. Is is too much to ask in this post-modern world, nk, where the boundaries between nations, communities - public and private - *are* admittedly getting blurred?
Najar, I like your attitude, much like NK's - "sit back and relax ... "
And just as important is your assertion that sajha -- unlike other info- news-based websites related to Nepal -- has become popular primarily because of its "small personal info supplements", which add "flavor" to the overall content. Well noted.
Allow me to add it's its immediacy that makes sajha unique. I remember Parmendra commenting somewhere that postings in some Indian listserv (?) was like throwing a tiny stone in the vast ocean - it quietly goes down to the bottom, unnoticed.
SAJHA owes its vibrancy to none other than the posters themselves who have been quick - and candid - to share wide ranging news - and views. Yes, even personal stories.
And therefore the need to harness the goodwill. Of course, we will disagree - we'd better - but while in war we will also keep the warrior's honor.
Suna, rest assured, I wasn't referring to your comments when I started this thread. Just a general gaff-gaaf :) And Sitara, my pleasure. We seem to be agreeing on more than one point lately.
hey, biswaji, where are you, man????? I am sure recharging your batteries. What next now !
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| Biswo |
Posted
on 28-Sep-02 01:58 PM
VVji,
Recharging my batteries, huh? That is a good double-edged expression!! :-)
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| NK |
Posted
on 28-Sep-02 04:44 PM
Just came back from lunch with another sajhaite whom I had never seen before! This place is amazing. There is hardly any difference between virtual and reality. are we all in *that* "Matrix?"
VV I was also, actually more than anything, wary and got exhausted of expectations my fellow posters had/have. I felt (my *own* perception please make note of that) the poster NK had become larger than real NK. If I did not comment on a poem, I was too snub; If I did not comment on some "expected" thread, "I was too dumb or my husband was too dumb" [:) can you believe that?] and so on and on... '
After posting for 18 months or so I thought I knew how to handle this board but alas! Like I said before every 'bihani' brings a new 'seet.'
My friend it is not "too much to ask" to have the separation. But I was just talking about the reality. Well, if you are truly a post-modernist then you would not even believe in a reality per se but for now, let's assume you and I are talking about the same "reality" here.
Wanted to write more... but my husband is cooking and I think the least I can do is clean up before the guests arrive! :)))) Do you think you can be here before 10 pm?
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| VillageVoice |
Posted
on 28-Sep-02 11:02 PM
#####
VV I was also, actually more than anything, wary and got exhausted of expectations my fellow posters had/have. I felt (my *own* perception please make note of that) the poster NK had become larger than real NK. If I did not comment on a poem, I was too snub; If I did not comment on some "expected" thread, "I was too dumb or my husband was too dumb" [:) can you believe that?] and so on and on... ' #####
Poor, Thomas. LOL.
Also, I can totally understand, nk, the Mother Goose, trying hard to live up to the billing - a famous sajhite, no less - and not always succeeding. Yep, I am not a post-modernist. The world without ideologies - a moral compass - is so very frightening. Even bigots are better off.
Hey, what's cooking tonight??? A weekend bash, uh-huh !
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| Poonte |
Posted
on 29-Sep-02 12:01 PM
Ahem! May I, as a relative new comer to Sajha, barge in to the bastion of regulars and drop in a few words? May I? Please!!!!!!!! Oh, thank you! :)
I can relate more along NK's line than VV's (sorry, VV, even though I know you personally, and have a tremendous respect for you!). It truly is an honor to have the opportunity to differ with you every once in a while.
I think Sajha, as the name itself suggests, is better left universal and inclusive. Every now and then we may encounter some irritants who seem more interested in the messenger than the message; however, it is precisely by not excluding even those nuisance that Sajha becomes truly sajha. We cannot only disagree, but sometimes feel so irritated both by the contents of the messages or by the attitudes of the messengers, but isn't that's how life's suppsoed to be to begin with? Life's wonderful because it has a little bit of everything, and so should be Sajha.
Did I make any sense???? Hmmmmmm....
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| VillageVoice |
Posted
on 29-Sep-02 11:45 PM
Welcome aboard, Poonte. I have been seeing you here and there lately :) So you can't be a brand-new visitor.
No problem. Disagreements, so long as one keeps the warrior's honor, are part and parcel of life.
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