Meet me halfway/ Across the sky.

The world is squarely divided into two kinds of women: The kind who beg the men in their lives to be more communicative. And those that know better.

This is the tragic fate of a poor bloke named Joseph Dobbie (Romeo), who met a girl called Kate Winsall (Juliet), and, being in touch with his articulate, communicative self, dashed this email off. Needless to say, it's a romantic missive that Juliet sent on to her sister, who sent it to all her friends, who... Oh, you know how it is; it's now been forwarded across the planet.

The result? Not only has poor Romeo been forced to change his home and mobile phone numbers, he also has to listen to the world at large sympathise/ criticise/ die laughing at him.

Beware the power of the net. Really.

Bones/ Sinking like stones.

Been in advertising too long to believe it makes a difference. But not long enough to ignore stuff like this!

She says we've gotta/ Hold on/ To what we've got.

All of yesterday, I blamed my lack of Blogspot access on my IT department. Assumed it was some crackdown on visits to non-work-related sites, notably pornography. And started composing (mentally, of course) a viciously polite email that would touch upon the importance of the freedom of expression, the internet as a medium for exchange of information/ ideas/ opinion, and blogs as a measure/indicator of 'buzz'. Fortunately, I was too snowed under with work to actually send off this missive.

This morning, I read the front page of the Economic Times and reeled. Apparently, I have DoT to thank for blocking access to my very own blogs -- blogs, whose only claim/ link to terror could be bad writing. Read on.

Terror Trail: Govt blanks out select blogs
SHOOTS OFF LETTER TO ISPs TO SHUT 17-18 SITES ACROSS THE COUNTRY

A week on, echoes of the serial blasts in Mumbai are being felt on the Net. In a hard hit at terrorists who blasted the life of some 180 Mumbaikars, the government — the ground beneath its feet shaking for its lackadaisical response to the carnage — has dealt a big blow. It has ordered the DoT to block blogs across the country. Cyberia, too, has been ripped apart indirectly by terrorists, most of who are incredibly tech-savvy and flash latest gadgets at the drop of a bomb.

DoT has sent a notice to Internet Service Providers (ISPs) to block around 17-18 websites. The department usually sends such notices of censorship only when it finds objectionable anti-national content or anything against public interest. But the government, going full blast in its zeal to do something to quell rising anger, has goofed big time by proscribing the MumbaiHelp blogspot, which acted as a lifeline after the blasts, giving information about critical numbers to contact and details about the dead and injured.

To compound the absurdity, it is still possible to get onto this site by logging on to www.pkblogs.com, a site set up by Pakistani bloggers to get around the blog ban that their government had put in place after the Danish cartoons episode. In short, thanks to this new policy, a blog to help the victims of a possibly Pakistan-inspired attack can only be accessed through a Pakistani site!

Lest Cyberia turn into Siberia, the online community is already up in arms against the new move. Experts believe that the government’s sudden move is aimed at thwarting the use of blogs and websites by terrorists and their supporters. Blogspot, a Google-owned site, is among those blocked.

Peter Griffin, one of the founders of the MumbaiHelp blog, points out that the government’s policy is particularly futile given the explosion of the blog universe. “Apart from free blogs like Blogspot, which is what the government seems to be targeting now, there are also private blogs which anyone can put on their site, and the blogs being run by media organisations like CNN and the Guardian. Is the government going to shut them all? It would probably be simpler for them to close the entire Internet business and then only allow select sites the way China is doing,” he said. Is this really the way India wants to go?

Domains also blocked to keep out blogs

Deepak Maheshwary, secretary of the Internet Service Provider Association of India (ISPAI), confirmed that most of the ISPs have received the DoT notice and have blocked these websites. He also added that some ISPs have not received the notice, but may get it on Tuesday.

The DoT sent the notice to all ISPs on Friday, and some of the ISPs have started blocking websites. Some websites were reported to be inaccessible. The process followed for blocking is as follows: The Computer Emergency Response Team (CERT-In) reports on the presence of websites or content which is anti-national or against public interest to the DoT. The latter then issues a notice to all ISPs, more than 100 across India, to block these websites.

Over the past six years, the DoT has blocked over 100 websites. Generally, a DoT notice has one or two names of websites to be blocked. This time, the notice had more than 17 names. The online community has started debating and criticising the decision. The online community also claims that some ISPs have blocked Blogspot. If the domain name is blocked by the ISPs, none of the websites on that domain can be accessed. Sources say, sometimes when the government gives a particular website or URL address to be blocked, it cannot be done unless the domain name is blocked. Consequently, ISPs have blocked access to all sites hosted by a provider.

Many of the ISPs could not be contacted for comment on the issue. Sify officials vehemently denied receiving any notice from DoT to block any site. They also denied that they have blocked any sites. Sources say the rationale for blocking these websites and blogs is to prevent foreign terrorists from communicating with the cells networks in India.


Sure, like anyone who has lived in Bombay for nearly thirty years, I've blogged about the blasts. Exchanged comments with friends and anonymous visitors. Returned visits. Checked out the points of view of many of my favourite bloggers. Dropped by the Mumbai Help site, and provided a link to it. Ditto for the CNN-IBN Light a Candle effort.

And I'm crushed that the government of the world's largest democracy sees fit to block access (paid internet access, that is) to blogs of my choice. It places India squarely among the likes of Pakistan and China. (Think I'm exaggerating? Log onto www.pkblogs.com Hell, if you're reading this, you probably have already.)

Other people have written about this, and written brilliantly. (Check this, and this, and -- my personal favourite -- this.) After all, it's no coincidence that bloggers across the country are continuing to do what they have always done -- sharing information, taking a stand, protesting, commenting, emailing, ...

And keeping the faith.

Consider this, consider this/ The hint of the century.

In the teeny, tiny chance that you might not have visited the CNN-IBN site already, please click here. It'll take you 30 seconds, and will generate relief money for the victims of the Bombay bomb blasts. Thank you.

What goes around/ Comes around.

If you've ever called Customer Support, this one's for you.

So sue me, I'm easily amused.

No clever title for this one. My head is quite empty of song.

One moment, the world (lip readers included) is wondering aloud if Materazzi called Zidane a terrorist. The next, terrorists are blowing up the city I've always considered my home, station by station.

Better people than I have written about it: Amit Varma is one, Desi Pundit will direct you to a host of others. People are helping: Mumbai Help is one such stop. And, inasmuch as there are answers in a situation like this, Suketu Mehta fields some questions on the bombings.

I was in college when the '93 bombings took place. And yesterday was such a bad flashback to that time. Trying to call, and not getting through.

In the random images that have flashed through my head, TV footage from last night mingles with odd fragments of memory. One such flash was the Salaam Bombay campaign that ran the day after the blasts.

I found these pics on agencyfaqs, Special Citation-winners at the Abbies in 1994:

And I found this post-9/11 piece by Vivek Kamath, who worked on the campaign at the country's hottest advertising shop then, Trikaya Grey:

A New York State of Mind

New York and Mumbai. Mumbai and New York. They have so much in common. Both cities are vertical in their architecture and in their ambition. Both have a phenomenal work ethic. And both are as vulnerable as an ice cube in a volcano.

Last week’s attack on New York brought back memories of Mumbai’s serial blasts in 1993.

Everyone has a story to tell about the blasts. Here’s mine: I was working at Trikaya Grey whose offices were at Kala Ghoda. When the stockmarket bombs went off, we heard a muffled thud and thought someone had dropped the photocopier on the mezzanine. Then, someone came in from lunch and said, people were bleeding on the street and stories of other blasts started doing the rounds. Some true, others unfounded. There were no mobile phones or Net connections then. The landlines were jammed by anxious family members and friends. After the riots of December 1992 and January 1993, fear covered the city like shroud.

But unlike December and January, these attacks were the handiwork of an outsider who was trying to destabilise Mumbai. And Mumbai refused to cower under the attack. In an overwhelming show of tenacity and resilience, the citizens of Mumbai pitched in to help the victims of the blasts. BEST buses doubled up as ambulances and sped the injured to the shelter of a hospital. Near the stock market, restaurant owners put up drums of drinking water. There were queues of blood donors at hospitals and by 9 pm, blood banks were full. Outside the passport office, people had formed a ring around the blast site and onset of set of volunteers helped the injured while one set diverted traffic.

One of Trikaya Grey’s clients was on his way home from the airport when he saw the devastation outside the passport office. But he also saw the spirit with which ordinary, everyday people were helping out. He got home and called Ravi Gupta (now no more but then the MD of Trikaya Grey). He told Mr. Gupta to do a campaign that saluted the spirit of this city. Use print, outdoor, radio, TV, T-shirts, buttons. Do what you must, he exhorted. But highlight these seemingly isolated instances of courage and bind them together in a campaign that unites the city and makes us proud to be a part of it.

But while he was willing to pick up the tab for the exercise, the client was clear that he did not want his logo on the campaign. He felt any ring of sponsorship around this message would smack off crass commercialization and dilute the message. Mr. Gupta called a meeting of six people (creative, client servicing and media) and briefed them. Don’t give me an “I love New York” kind of campaign, he said. I want pride, not love, he emphasized. He told us we would meet every two hours to review progress.

In less than 24 hours, the Salaam Bombay campaign was born. The strapline was It’s my Bombay. I’m proud of it. Billboards and print ads highlighted how, despite the serial blasts on Friday, there was 92% attendance in offices on Saturday. Of how trading resumed at the stock market on Monday. Armed with a blanket permission letter from the CM, six camera crews shot footage of the devastation and contrasted it with images of the city getting back on its feet. Kids at traffic lights sported Salaam Bombay T-Shirts. College kids distributed car stickers which motorists, for once, gladly put up.

The campaign made its point and sent out a signal. At least six multinats asked for copies they could send overseas so their headquarters knew Bombay was safe. Through it all, the man who initiated the entire exercise remained quietly in the background. But today, eight years later, I am taking the liberty of naming Mr. NS Sekhsaria of Gujarat Ambuja Cement.

Because as the destructive footage of last week’s events started to steam in. As economies collapsed and there was talk of war, I thought of Mr. Sekhsaria and I was filled with hope.

Because if New York and Mumbai have so much in common, there must be someone like Mr. Sekhsaria in New York. The world needs them right now. Quite, strong men of steel and vision, who always look at the silver lining. And think constructively even in the most destructive of times.

In these most destructive of times, my friends are safe. More than one has had the grace to wisecrack about working late saving their lives.

And, sure, the Bangalore I live in today seems a lifetime removed from the Bombay of 1992-93 -- with its curfews and unsettling undercurrent of violence, of maha aartis and staticky recordings of conversations over police scanners.

But I suppose that's just another illusion.

This could be heaven/ For everyone.

My mind has always been chockfull of obscure lyrics collected over the past 34 years. Post titles have been the only vaguely useful application of the stuff. So sue me, much of these lyric fragments date back to the dregs of 80s pop.

Imagine my utter delight when I found One Hit Wonders. Complete with radio station. Hence the title, cogged from Queen.

And I said/ What about/ Breakfast at Tiffany's?

One of those breezy Bangalore mornings that make it impossible to concentrate on work. So, I'm going to sit out on the balcony, read my PD James, and call my submerged friends in aamchi Mumbai.

Meanwhile, here's to beer.

You can call it lack if confidence/ But to carry on living doesn't make no sense.

England's out of the World Cup, and the blame game's on. Rooney. Cristiano Ronaldo. Eriksson. Beckham. Lampard. The list is quite endless.

Sure, it's a side that has never won a penalty shoot-out at the World Cup, but that's a fact that has drawn comment even before the tournament kicked off.

Go on as the British press will about the team being overrated and useless, the fact remains that they kept the Portuguese from scoring for all of sixty minutes when down to ten men. They had to trade in Joe Cole for Crouch, but they made it work. It could easily be argued that with a little bit of luck, it could be them facing France the day after.

Rooney deserved to be sent off. Kicking Carvalho in the balls deserved a red, with or without the friendly intervention of Cristiano Ronaldo.

And the amount of criticism levelled at Lampard is beyond belief. If I hear the phrase 'Runner-up for Footballer of the Year' once more, I'm going to hit someone. Sure, he's been disappointing this World Cup. But he was England's top scorer in the qualifiers. His 16 goals for Chelsea this season ('05-'06) are an EPL record for a midfielder. And, I'm afraid you don't get 26 shots at goal in six matches unless you're doing something right. (Compare that with, say, Rooney? Or, to take a broader view, Ballack?)

Besides, if billing mattered so much, just where does the winner of the title stand? No goals for Brazil for -- get this -- one whole year. And counting.