ബ്ലോഗ് പോര്‍ട്ടലില്‍

2008

www.indiabeyond.com

എം.കെ ഹരികുമാര്‍ ബ്ലോഗില്‍ ഉണ്ടാക്കിയ വിവാദത്തെപ്പറ്റി ഇന്‍ഡ്യ ബിയോണ്ട് പോറ്ട്ടല്‍ നല്‍കിയ റിപ്പോര്‍ട്ട് .

Home Business & Tech Science & Health Culture Magazine Blog
The Global Newsmaker
k.santhosh kumar
M.K. Harikumar is now as famous as Salman Rushdie, in one way. The latter is globally known among the literary circles for his controversial book while the former is now a cult figure among the Malayalee Blogging community across the world. Both came to limelight through controversies. And both are genuine and staggeringly devoted to their personal values and creativity.
Harikumar created a sensation for the first time in India in the internet blogging community as a Malayalee, as he is well known as a sharp critic and seasoned writer with experience in publishing, journalism and blogging.
But sadly, the print media in India, leave alone Kerala, remains ignorant of the day-to-day developments of the information super highway of the digital world. It was there where Harikumar created a niche of his own through his personal blog called Aksharajaalakam. And it was there the Malayalee bloggers from the Gulf planned a hartal of a sort protesting on Harikumar's freedom of expression. That is news to the media who do objective journalism than gossip-journalism.
The events leading to an imminent hartal on internet by the bloggers would have affected none other than themselves, had not the name of a prestigious Malayalam Weekly published in Kerala was dragged into sentiments of the particular blogging community. Incidentaly, Harikumar has been contributing a regular column with the same name "Aksharajalakam" to that publication, and the bloggers took it for granted as Harikumar was "provoked" to some extent by the said publication to whom he was contributing his columns. And the Malyalaee Bloggers from the Gulf burned the copies of the said publication in which Harikumar's columns came, in open air! Nonsense.
When the bloggers decided to boycott blogging, news traveled faster to some print media who genuinely showed their nose for news. A little investigation would have revealed the things so-called NRI-malayalees, do in the name of nationalism, and that too where civilized humans are more than than the "imported cheap labor force".
This writer was also an NRI and had been doing healthy blogging for more than six years. Never in my experience have I seen a community of NRI bloggers like the one that boycotted the publication in question in the picture and to raise arms against the person who contributed a column to it just to earn his living.
What such bloggers do think is that blogs are a kind of open podium where you can shout any nonsense that is otherwise legally punishable. They simply take blogging as a written version of chat room. Blogging is not the vehicle for the time-killers. Blogging is awesome, and money building source to many, if not for the ones who act like street vandals.
Thanks to Harikumar for keeping his back bone that helps him stand erect to his values. Thanks to the newspaper that carried this internet event in its "news-value" than anything else. And thanks to the Malayalam publication for keeping a low profile in this issue so far. The publication does not realize what mileage it will get in the coming days. How sad.