Word in Edgeways

It's been a while

I should have blogged and blogged and blogged from India, but didn't. Hard to say why, exactly... I suppose in part it's the problem of internet access, but my excuse isn't that great. The last two times I've been in Bombay, staying out in the suburbs where most of my film interviewees live, I've used the Guru Nanak Cybercafe across the road from the hostel for my emailing and surfing. To be sure, the place has its drawbacks: it's little more than a shed with a really, really fast internet connection, and it's way too close to a garbage-clogged creek for olfactory comfort. But it's advantages are many: convenient; nice, helpful proprietors; reliable connection and not too many pop-ups. There are flashier places with bracing A/C that you can go to, but the "help" is hostile, the connection gets lost all the time, pop-ups drive you mad, you can't download files without paying an extra fee, and so on and so on.

But even with the redoubtable Guru Nanak Cybercafe close by, I didn't blog. Why not? Exams to grade for one thing; work for another. In three weeks, my assistant -- more co-researcher -- Mona and I did over ten interviews. Pretty good for such a short time in India, given the inertia of getting any research project going, particularly here.

Perhaps the world is made up of good and bad bloggers, by which I mean the ones who can sustain a habit as formidable as daily bowel regularity, and those who are, by comparison, constipated. I can't be the only person whose blogs are so intermittent.

The other thought that occurs to me is that solitary blogging is just harder for some people. I enjoy the repartee of long email threads, the sort you can now see on gmail. My daughter is a prolific contributor to my space and live journal; nothing seems to hold her back there, where she knows she is immediately part of an active reading (and writing) community. If one person in three months reads my stuff, it's a miracle. My friends know the link, but who can really be bothered to read what I have to say when there are other, more important things to do? So, the virtual "community" is really like any other "traditional" human community: there are always wallflowers.

posted by Sylvie @ 8:55 AM