India Uncut
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Wednesday, August 02, 2006
The oldest Indian blog?
Peter Griffin wants to know "who the first Indian blogger was." I have no idea, sadly, and I came on the scene fairly late myself, beginning 23 Yards in July 2004, and India Uncut in December that year. The first blogs I read were foreign ones, such as Kausfiles and Instapundit, though I don't read them so much these days. The first Indian blog I read, and I forget how I stumbled onto it, was by Nidhi Taparia, one that the lady eventually deleted. It was a charming personal blog, and I often felt embarrassed to read it, as if I was eavesdropping on a private conversation, or peeping into the window of a strangers house like a voyeur.
Around the same time, while googling for something related to quizzing, I discovered J Ramanand's blog -- Ramanand was the last winner of Mastermind India, and I've subsequently met him at many Pune quizzes. I also discovered Gaurav Sabnis, either through Nidhi or Ramanand's blogroll, and through him, bloggers like Ravikiran Rao, Yazad Jal and Madhu Menon. (All of them then blogged frequently, and well, but only make guest appearences at their own blogs these days.)
After beginning to blog, of course, the circle of bloggers I read, and came to know personally, expanded madly. I discovered that Hurree Babu was a woman and Putu the Cat was a man, both of which took me by surprise. (Though Hurree's identity shouldn't have been remotely susprising, as it's hardly a stretch for India's best lit critic to also be India's best litblogger.) I quickly made friends in cities across the country, and the world. I discovered people with common interests I'd never have met in my limited circle in Mumbai.
But this is not about me. Who is India's first blogger, do you know? Gaurav, Ravi and Yaz have been at it since 2002, but I'm sure there must be many who came before them, so do go forth and tell Pete the Meat if you happen to know.
(One of Pete's additional questions is which solo blog has the highest number of posts. Well, this is Post No. 3141 on India Uncut, so in terms of quantity-not-quality, I'm in with a shot!)
Around the same time, while googling for something related to quizzing, I discovered J Ramanand's blog -- Ramanand was the last winner of Mastermind India, and I've subsequently met him at many Pune quizzes. I also discovered Gaurav Sabnis, either through Nidhi or Ramanand's blogroll, and through him, bloggers like Ravikiran Rao, Yazad Jal and Madhu Menon. (All of them then blogged frequently, and well, but only make guest appearences at their own blogs these days.)
After beginning to blog, of course, the circle of bloggers I read, and came to know personally, expanded madly. I discovered that Hurree Babu was a woman and Putu the Cat was a man, both of which took me by surprise. (Though Hurree's identity shouldn't have been remotely susprising, as it's hardly a stretch for India's best lit critic to also be India's best litblogger.) I quickly made friends in cities across the country, and the world. I discovered people with common interests I'd never have met in my limited circle in Mumbai.
But this is not about me. Who is India's first blogger, do you know? Gaurav, Ravi and Yaz have been at it since 2002, but I'm sure there must be many who came before them, so do go forth and tell Pete the Meat if you happen to know.
(One of Pete's additional questions is which solo blog has the highest number of posts. Well, this is Post No. 3141 on India Uncut, so in terms of quantity-not-quality, I'm in with a shot!)
