I think my blog is definitely escapist in nature. It never seems to dwell on the harsher things in life. I have very rarely commented on political affairs or business. At this point of time, the Indian media is focused on our PM’s heart condition, Pricewater’s auditors and the Sri Lankan Army’s military victories in the North, but reading my blog one would think it all sweetness and light air in the world. Reading my blog, you would never guess I was a journalist. And then again I never write about any of my personal troubles ; not that I have many 🙂 .
My friends say blogging is all about sharing things with people and accuse me of being close-mouthed about what’s happening in my life. Some of my friends on the blogroll are quite comfortable sharing how “horrid that b**** in office is..” and “How they wish they could beat up that m****f*****.
That way I guess I am still old-fashioned – I share only what I am comfortable with sharing. The blog is not my sound-off and neither do I want to become some kind of agony aunt.
I wonder at my fellow-bloggers. If they keep on bitching about the people in their office, will it not lower their chances of employment elsewhere? And also can they not sued by the company, since people know which company they are working for even if they don’t mention it by name? And again what if their boss happened to come across their blog and read all the horrible things they had to say about him?
And if you are going to write about your friend’s marriage or her engagement…for all you know she might not be comfortable with you sharing that news with the entire world. There was this blogger, who posted huge pictures of her boyfriend on her blog….a few months later when she broke off her engagement with him, she still had people congratulating her on her engagement on the blog. Unnecessary and embarrassing explanations had to follow with each comment. Or maybe I’m wronging the person, maybe she was quite comfortable with the world knowing everything about what happened to her on the personal front. But this level of openness somehow makes me uneasy – in India with everyone being so traditional and hypocritical – it is tough to be really open about our personal affairs and expect people to respect our decisions.
There also those who give the world wide web a minute-by-minute account of their social activities. If you want to rave about the sushi made in the city’s hottest eatery, no one is stopping you. In fact people will find your review both enjoyable and useful. Or if you donated something to a charity; feel good about yourself, blog about it. But Friday night bingeing, pubs and drunken driving should be definite No, Nos. For one – your public image will go for a toss and secondly – your chances of employability will definitely go down. And again reading about how someone puked is not everyone’s cup of tea and might actually bring down your blog readership. This last line makes me sound saintly and snooty – its not like I am part of the temperance movement, but I do wish that people would give a little more thought to what they write about.
Spinnin' a yarn 